Name: Flood in Alaska, July 16 to 17, 2003
Start: 2003-07-16T23:00
End: 2003-07-17T12:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1.0 million
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 Jul 16, 7:30 PM AST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 16, 7:30 PM AST, 3 hours 30 minutes before

SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
830 PM ADT WED JUL 16 2003

ANALYSIS...NEW AVN RUN LOOKS GOOD. WV SLIDING NE ALG FNT HAS PUSHED
BNDRY ALTL FRTHR SE WITH HVR RN WRN COOK INLET AND SUSITNA VLY THIS
EVE. AFTER WV GOES BY LTR TNGT CRCLTN ARND LOW S OF THE AK PEN TO
TAKE OVR SRN AK WX FM THE UPR LOW IN THE INTR. STG ESE FLOW DVLPS
KODIAK ISLND AND B BAY THU AND THU NGT AS 987 MB LOW MOVS TO THE
SANAK ISLNDS THU EVE. THIS MEANS HVY RNS SRN KODIAK ISLND..AK PEN AND
AREAS OF B BAY NXT 2 DAYS. FRTHR E HGTS AND SFC PRES BLD OVR SCNTRL
AK AND ESPCLY CPR RVR BASIN FOR DRIER CONDS AS MSTR BNDY PULLS ALTL
BACK TO THE W AND N. BY FRI NGT AND SAT HIGH PRES DVLPS ACRS CNTRL
INTR WITH ERLY FLOW ACRS SRN AREAS WITH SVRL ERLY WVS MOVG EWD ACRS
THE GLF.

AREA OF LWR TOP MARINE ST APRDG SWD ACRS ECNTRL BERING TO GIVE ALTL
LGT RN TO THE PRIBILOFS TNGT INTO THU MRNG. CONDS STAY WNDY THRU THU
NGT.

.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE AREAS 3A..3B..3C..8..15.

PERCY JUL 03

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Susitna Valley

When: July 16, 11:00 PM AST to July 17, 12:00 PM AST
Where: Susitna Valley forecast zone
Property damage: $1.0 million
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

An unusual winter storm affected areas of the northern Susitna Valley to McKinley National park. A rare cold front passage occurred across interior Alaska dipping as far south as the Talkeetna area. Warm moist air flowed into this front from the Cook Inlet region causing a convergence zone. Expected 24 hour QPF was around 3 inches for the northern Susitna Valley for this event. The cold air did push south of the Alaska range and caused the snow to occur down to an elevation of approximately 1500 feet. Water equivalent amounts ranged from2.64 inches in 24 hours at Trapper Creek to 5.7 inches at Cantwell. Minor flooding occurred north of Talkeetna. Whole trees were floating down the Jack River, near Cantwell, and local residents reported not having ever seen that in all the years they lived there.

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, July 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: 5378663.