A 958mb low tracked northward along the outer coast of Southeast Alaska Friday night, January 3 and Saturday, January 4. Advisory criteria winds (> 40 mph) occurred throughout the Panhandle.
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.
The episode as NWS AJK wrote it up.
A 958mb low tracked northward along the outer coast of Southeast Alaska Friday night, January 3 and Saturday, January 4. Advisory criteria winds (> 40 mph) occurred throughout the Panhandle. In a few areas peak wind gusts reached warning levels (> 60 mph) and caused some minor...mainly tree...damage. Peak wind gusts to 69 mph were measured on top of the Ketchikan airport terminal and on the roof of the Federal Building in downtown Juneau. The Hydaburg AWOS recorded a peak wind gust to 66 mph.
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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 3, 9:45 PM AST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
945 PM AST FRI JAN 3 2003
.SYNOPSIS...
.SHORT RANGE...960 MB STORM CENTERED NEAR 50/140 CONTINUING NORTH
ALONG 140W TONIGHT AND SLOWLY STARTING TO FILL TOWARDS MORNING.
ASSOCIATED WARM FRONT MOVED THROUGH PAMM AT 0615Z AND AND
FORECAST TO BE OVER SUMNER STRAIT BY 12Z. MDLS AND OBS SHOW STG
WNDS ALL ALONG PAC COAST FROM VNCVR ISLAND-CENTRAL SE AK TNGT. 50
KT LOW LEVEL JET INCRSG TO 65KT AT 2K FEET ACRS SRN PNHDL 06-12Z
PD AND HAVE POSTED HWW FOR TNGT FOR OCNL G60 MPH AND ISOLD 75 MPH
GUSTS IN CHANNELED AREAS. HEAVY RAIN IN ADVANCE OF THIS FRONT
EXCEEDING 1 INCH PER HOUR WILL TAPER OFF IN POST FRONTAL
ENVIRONMENT BRIEFLY. COLD FRONT APPROACHING FM SW WILL BE NR
OUTER CST BY 6 AM AND WILL HELP CONT ADVSRY LVL WNDS AND PROVIDE
ANOTHER SHOT OF MDT RA. XPC WKNG WMFNT TO REACH FREDERICK SOUND
BY MRNG AND XPC SE WNDS GSTG 50 MPH HERE. WILL SEE RA INCREASING
OVERNIGHT AND SHUD BE HVY AT TIMES PASI-PAPG. WILL KEEP WNDS S OF
PAJN THRU TNGT PD WITH INCRSG RA. OLD FNT NOW PAYA-PAJN CONTG TO
WKN AS IT PUSHES N. THIS SHUD HELP OPEN UP LYNN CANAL TO SLY ONCE
IT MOVES THRU. HAVE SOME SNW IN LOW LVLS ACRS NRN LYNN CANAL BUT
XPC THIS TO GO TO RA AS SNW LVL RISES THRU MRNG.
ANOTHER DEEP LOW OVER AK PEN CURRENTLY ROTG CDFNT INTO CNTL GULF
BUT GOES STNRY AND MERGES WITH SRN LOW AS IT RUNS N ALG 140. AS
THE 2 SYS MERGE XPC RA TO BCM HVY AT TIMES IN NE GLF TWDS MRNG.
.LONG RANGE...NEW 00Z MODEL RUNS AGREE FAIRLY WELL WITH PREVIOUS
12Z AND 18Z RUNS. AS A RESULT I DO NOT EXPECT ANY SIGNIFICANT
CHANGES TO THE PACKAGE ON THE MORNING ISSUANCE.
WHAT IS LEFT OF THE FIRST SYSTEM MOVING OVER SOUTHEAST ALASKA
LIFTS INTO NORTHWEST CANADA THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING. WILL ALSO
LIKELY SEE BRIEF BREAK TO THE RAINFALL OVER THE SOUTHERN
PANHANDLE AREA SATURDAY EVENING. A SMALL POOL OF COLD AIR BEHIND
THIS LOW MOVES TO THE EAST. WHICH WILL LEAD SOME MIXED RAIN AND
SNOW SHOWERS SATURDAY NIGHT OVER THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE.
THE NEXT SYSTEM THAT IS DEVELOPING IS TRACKING TOWARDS PRINCE
WILLIAM SOUND FOR EARLY MONDAY. THE SYSTEM IS BRINGING ANOTHER
BIG PUSH OF WARM AIR FOR THE PANHANDLE SUNDAY. EXPECT A
SIGNIFICANT PUSH OF COLD AIR BEING PULLED FROM THE INTERIOR TO
WRAP AROUND THIS LOW AND SPREAD OVER SOUTHEAST ALASKA FOR TUESDAY
MORNING...AS THE LOW AND COLD TROUGH ALOFT MOVES INLAND.
EXPECT THIS COLD SNAP TO BE SHORT LIVED AS A FRONT FROM A LOW IN
THE BERING MOVES ACROSS THE GULF AND SPREADS INTO SOUTHEAST
ALASKA THURSDAY.
.AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...HWW 27-28
WND ADVSRY 23, 26, 29
MARINE...STORM SRN 1B...GALE W/ STORM GUSTS SRN 1A
GALE 2A AND 1A3
MJM - BMB3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, January 2003
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: 5341803, 5341804, 5341805.