High Wind in Alaska, March 2, 2003

Name: High Wind in Alaska, March 2, 2003
Start: 2003-03-02T02:00
End: 2003-03-02T04:00
Location: Alaska

March 2, 2003 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 high wind, 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 Mar 1, 9:00 PM AST, 5 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 1, 9:00 PM AST, 5 hours before

SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
900 PM AST SAT MAR 1 2003

ANALYSIS AND FORECASTS...
THE MAJOR LOW IS NOW NORTH OF AMCHITKA WITH A RAPIDLY MOVING
FRONTAL LOW NOW MOVING INTO THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS. THE CURRENT
FORECAST PACKAGE LOOKS REASONABLE AND WE WILL CONTINUE ALONG WITH
IT. THE ONLY AREA OF CONCERN TONIGHT IS THE WIND WARNING FOR THE
ALASKA PENINSULA. THE MM5 INDICATES WIND BELOW WARNING LEVELS AS
DO THE NCEP MODELS AND WE ANTICIPATE CANCELING THAT WARNING SOON.

THE LONG RANGE PROGS CONTINUE TO INSIST ON A COLD PERIOD BY THE
END OF NEXT WEEK. THE STRONG BERING SEA RIDGE IS EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP WHILE THE COLD AIR NOW UNDER THE HUDSON BAY LOW WILL
MIGRATE WEST THROUGH NEXT WEEK EVENTUALLY MOVING INTO EASTERN
ALASKA BY LATE THU EARLY FRI.

.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING ZONE 181.
MARINE...STORM 5B. GALE 12A 12A1 12B 13 15 5A 6AB.
FIRE WEATHER...DONE.

SAM MAR 03

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Alaska Peninsula

When: March 2, 2:00 AM AST to 4:00 AM AST
Where: Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
Measured: 65 kt (75 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

A frontal low intensified to 985 millibars as it crossed the Aleutians near Dutch Harbor Saturday evening. The low then moved rapidly through the eastern Bering Sea to Norton Sound by Sunday afternoon...deepening a few more millibars.Peak winds from the south reached 75 mph briefly at Cold Bay very early Sunday. Reports indicated that King Cove, just to the east, experienced only 50 mph winds.

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

Every storm in Alaska in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 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: 5340705.