The low that brought high winds to Southeast Alaska beginning on Friday night January 3, stalled off shore. A series of frontal waves rotating around the Low swept up through the Panhandle on Sunday January 5.
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.
The low that brought high winds to Southeast Alaska beginning on Friday night January 3, stalled off shore. A series of frontal waves rotating around the Low swept up through the Panhandle on Sunday January 5. One of these frontal waves moved up through the extreme Southern Panhandle in the morning. Once again 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. The Hydaburg AWOS recorded a peak wind gust to 74 mph. On the remote southern part of Kuiu Island, peak wind gusts to 60 mph were also recorded.
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 5, 2:45 AM AST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
245 AM AST SUN JAN 5 2003
.SYNOPSIS...
.SHORT RANGE...NCEP MODEL FORECAST IN GOOD AGREEMENT OVER THE
EASTERN GULF TODAY BUT BASED ON CURRENT SATELLITE LOOPS THEY MAY
BE A LITTLE SLOW ON MOVING THE OFFSHORE OCCLUDED FRONT INTO THE
PANHANDLE LATER THIS MORNING. THE DEEP ELONGATED LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEM MOVING NORTH OUT OF THE NORTHEAST PACIFIC WILL REACH THE
NORTH CENTRAL GULF BY THIS AFTERNOON. THE MESO-ETA PUTS THE
OCCLUDED FRONT INTO DIXON ENTRANCE AND THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE
AROUND NOON AND OVER THE REMAINDER OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA AND THE
NORTHEAST GULF BY 6PM. STRONG LOW LEVEL WINDS ARE FORECAST WITH
THIS SYSTEM SUCH THAT A HIGH WIND WATCH IS CURRENTLY IN EFFECT
FOR ALL OF THE FORECAST AREA TODAY. THE WATCH WILL BE UPGRADED TO
A WARNING FOR THIS MORNING OVER THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE AND THIS
MORNING AND AFTERNOON FOR CENTRAL SOUTHEAST ALASKA. THE NORTHERN
PANHANDLE WILL MOST LIKELY SEE HIGH WINDS BY LATE THIS MORNING
INTO THIS AFTERNOON AS WELL. THE WATCH FOR THE NORTHEAST GULF
WILL ALSO BE UPGRADED TO A WARNING.
.LONG RANGE...MODELS RMN IN GOOD AGREEMENT THRU DAY 3 AND THEN
BGN TO DIVERGE WILDLY DAY 4 THRU DAY 7. THE AVN/MRF HAS SHOWN
THE MOST CONSISTENCY FM MODEL RUN TO MODEL RUN DAY 4 THRU 7.
THEREFORE THE LONG TERM FCSTS PRODUCTS THIS SUN MRNG WL REFLECT
THE AVN/MRF SOLUTION.
STG 970 MB LOW ONSHR ERN GLF CST EARLY SUN NIGHT WL CONT MOVG NE
TO THE YUKON LATER SUN NIGHT THRU MON MRNG. AS THE LOW TRAKS
INTO NORTHWEST TERRITORIES AND WKNS...WNDS OVR THE GLFALSK WL
SHIFT FM STG S TO W. THIS WL DRAW COLDER AIR FM THE AK INTR ACRS
THE ERN GLFALSK TO THE ERN GLF CST...NRN AND CNTRL SE AK MON AFTN.
LOW MOVG ALG TRAILING END OF THE FNT IN THE ERN PACIFIC WL CROSS
SRNS SE AK TUE MRNG DELAYING MOVMT OF THE COLD AIR INTO SRN
SE AK UNTIL TUE AFTN.
THEREFORE...RAIN AND STRONG GSTY WNDS OVR THE ENTR FCST RGN
SUN NIGHT THRU MON MRNG. WINDS DMSHG OVR THE ENTR RGN MON AFTN.
FALLING TEMPS AND RAIN CHGG TO SNOW SHOWERS MON AFTN FM THE
ERN GLF CST TO THE N HLF OF SE AK. RAIN CONTG OVR THE S HLF
OF SE AK MON AFTN.
SNOW SHWRS MON NIGHT AND TUE OVR THE ERN GLF CST AND N HLF OF
SE AK. RAIN MON NIGHT AND TUE MRNG S HLF OF SE AK CHGG TO
SNOW SHOWERS TUE AFTN.
ON WED...STG LOW MOVG TO THE BERING SEA WL SEND AN OCFNT TO
THE CNTRL GLFALSK WED AFT. MSTR FM THIS SYS WL SPRD THE LIKLIHOOD
OF SNOW TO THE ERN GLF CST AND A CHC OF LGT SNOW TO THE N HLF OF
SE AK WED AFTN. HI PRES BLDG OVR THE S HLF OF SE AK WL KEEP PCPN
OUT OF THAT PTN OF SE AK WED.
THU AND FRI...A SERIES OF LOWS DVLPG ON THE GLFALSK FNT WL MOV
NWD OVR THE CNTRL AND ERN GLFALSK SPRDG PCPN AND GSTY WNDS OVR
SE AK AND ERN GLF CST. RAIN OVR THE S HLF OF SE AK AND
SNOW OVR THE N HLF OF SE AK AND ERN GLF CST THU.
ON FRI...MILDER TEMPS WITH RAIN OVR THE ERN GLF CST...CNTRL
AND SRN SE AK...SNOW CHGG TO RAIN OVR EXTRM NRN SE AK FRI.
ON SAT...FNTL SYS IS FCST TO MOV E OF THE RGN. RAIN CHGG TO
RAIN SHWRS S HLF OF SE AK...MIXED RAIN AND SNOW SHWRS ALG THE
ERN GLF CST AND N HLF OF SE AK.
.AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR ALL SOUTHEAST ZONES THIS MORNING
THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON.
MARINE...STORM..SRN 1A..1B..2A
GALE..REMAINDER 1A4 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: 5341806, 5341807, 5341217, 5341808.