High Wind, Central Beaufort Sea Coast
- When
- February 6, 10:53 AM AST to 7:53 PM AST
- Where
- Central Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
- Measured
- 50 kt (58 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
High Wind in Alaska, February 6, 2003
Strong winds along the Central Beaufort Sea Coast developed as a high over the Beaufort Sea strengthened to 1042mb and an occluded front pushed north of the Brooks Range. The resulting strong easterly pressure gradient between these two systems produced wind gusts of 58 mph at the Deadhorse ASOS site.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.
Strong winds along the Central Beaufort Sea Coast developed as a high over the Beaufort Sea strengthened to 1042mb and an occluded front pushed north of the Brooks Range. The resulting strong easterly pressure gradient between these two systems produced wind gusts of 58 mph at the Deadhorse ASOS site.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 5, 2:30 PM AST, 20 hours 23 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 5, 2:30 PM AST, 20 hours 23 minutes before
NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM AST WED FEB 5 2003
990 MB LOW 100 WEST OF ROMANZOF WILL SPLIT INTO TWO LOWS SOON AS IT
MOVES NORTH...RESULTING IN A 1007 MB LOW NEAR POINT HOPE AND A 1007 MB
LOW NEAR TIN CITY 00Z FRI...THE FIRST LOW MOVES NORTHEAST WEAKENING TO
1019 MB JUST EAST OF BARROW WHILE THE SECOND ONE DISSIPATES BY 00Z SAT.
AN OCCLUSION EXTENDS FROM ANAKTUVUK TO ANCHORAGE AND WILL MOVE EAST TO
THE CANADA BORDER BY 12Z AND WEAKEN GREATLY.
THE COLD FRONT FROM TIN CITY TO UNALAKLEET TO KING SALMON WILL MOVE NE
TO WAINWRIGHT TO ANAKTUVUK PASS-MANLEY-WESTERN AK RANGE 00Z FRI...AFTER
THAT IT WILL PUSH A LITTLE FARTHER EAST BUT ALSO DISSIPATE AND RETREAT
NORTH BY 00Z SAT. A NEW LOW AND FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL MOVE UP FROM THE
NORTH PACIFIC ON FRI AND THE OCCLUSION WILL PUSH NORTH OVER SW ALASKA
FRI AND FRI NIGHT. AN ARCTIC FRONTAL BOUNDARY IS ALONG THE SOUTHERN
SLOPES OF THE BROOKS RANGE BUT THE PORTION OVER THE WEST HALF IS
ADVANCING NORTH AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT AND MAY REACH WAINWRIGHT TO JUST
SOUTH OF BARROW 00Z FRI BUT THEN BEND SW ACROSS THE LOW CENTER.
NORTH SLOPE...HEAVY SNOW OVER 205 WILL BE ENDED AT 4PM. EXPECT BLIZZARD
OVER 201 CONTINUING INTO THU AM BUT LIKELY ENDING BY NOON. WILL ADD 202
TO BLIZZARD THOUGH CONDITIONS LOOK MARGINAL..WILL KEEP BLOWING SNOW
ADVISORY FOR 203 AND 204. ALL WINDS DIMINISHING THU PM..AND SWING TO THE
WEST EVENTUALLY ON FRI AS WEAKENING SURFACE LOW MOVES OVER AREA. TEMPS
WARMING AHEAD OF LOW SOMEWHAT...THEN COOLING AS LOW MOVES.
WESTERN AK...MOST REMAINING WARNINGS WILL BE ENDED AT 4PM. BLIZZARD OVER
213 WILL LAST INTO TONIGHT BUT GRADIENT WILL RELAX BY MORNING. EXPECT
SNOW SHOWERS WHICH WILL END FROM THE WEST THU AFTERNOON AND NIGHT...AND
COOLING TEMPERATURES AS LOW DRAWS IN COLDER AIR FROM RUSSIA. SOUTHERN
PORTION COULD RECEIVE SOME SNOW BEGINNING LATE FRI AS NEW FRONTAL SYSTEM
MOVES NW OVER SW ALASKA AND OVERRUNNING BEGINS.
CENTRAL/ERN INTERIOR...STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW ACROSS ALASKA RANGE
DIMINISHING SOME AND BECOMING SOUTHWEST THIS EVE SO EXPECT WIND WARNINGS
TO BE ENDED OVERNIGHT. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR COOLER BUT ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS
ON THUS. AREAS OF RAIN OVER DENALI ZONES SHOULD END THIS EVE AS UPSLOPE
ON SOUTH SIDE OF AK RANGE WEAKENS AND WEAKENING OCCLUSION MOVES NE OVER
EASTERN INTERIOR AND INTO CANADA BY EARLY MORNING. THIS MAY DROP SOME
SPOTTY PRECIP ALONG THE WAY TONIGHT...WHICH MAY BE RAIN OR LIGHT
FREEZING RAIN.
.AFG...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...BLIZ WARNING 213 201 202.
HIGH WIND 223 225 226.
MARINE...GALE 14..9B..WRN 11A.
BRISK WIND ADVISORY ERN 11A..11B.
JL FEB 03Event by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, February 6, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Tennessee, February 6, 2003
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Virginia, February 6 to 7, 2003
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in New Jersey, February 6 to 7, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Virginia, February 6 to 7, 2003
- Winter Weather in Georgia, February 6, 2003
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Maryland, February 6 to 7, 2003
- Winter Storm in Virginia, February 6 to 7, 2003
- Heavy Snow in North Carolina, February 6 to 7, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Missouri, February 6, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Kentucky, February 6, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Oklahoma, February 6, 2003
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 2003
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5340696.