Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 3, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 3, 2003
Start: 2003-01-03T17:30
End: 2003-01-03T21:00
Location: Alaska

January 3, 2003 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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 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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 3, 12:00 PM AST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 3, 12:00 PM AST, 5 hours 30 minutes before

SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
1200 PM AST FRI JAN 3 2003

ANALYSIS...AVN CONTINUES TO DRIVE DEEP EASTERN GULF LOW INLAND
NEAR WHITEHORSE AT 36 HRS WITHOUT FILLING UNTIL LATER..THE
CLASSIC AVN ERROR..BUT IS NOW HANDLING SOUTHWEST AK LOW A LITTLE
BETTER KEEPING IT A LITTLE FARTHER SOUTH EARLY ON.  UPSHOT IS
ABOUT THE SAME WITH SOUTHWEST GALES OVER GULF SAT AFTERNOON.
PRIMARY FEATURE IS STRONG COLD AIR ADVECTION SOUTHWEST AK MOVING
INTO COOK INLET SAT. THIS ALONG WITH STRONG UPPER VORT IS
SIGNATURE FOR BACK DOOR COLD AIR ADVECTION SNOW COOK
INLET/SUSITNA VALLEY SAT.

.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE 3A,8.

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Kenai Peninsula

When: January 3, 5:30 PM AST to 9:00 PM AST
Where: Kenai Peninsula forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy snow was reported along the Homer Bluff. 6 inches of snow fell in a short duration...3 hours. At one time, spotter reports indicated snowfall rates of close to 2 inches per hour. Precipitation near sea level was recorded as both rain and snow. Along East End Road, reports of lighter amounts (4 inches in a 12 hour period) were reported.

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, January 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: 5339017.