High Wind, Western Arctic Coast
- When
- March 5, 6:55 PM AST
- Where
- Western Arctic Coast forecast zone
- Measured
- 50 kt (58 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
High Wind in Alaska, March 5, 2003
High winds occurred along the Western Arctic Coast as a warm front moved across the Chukchi Sea. High pressure ranging of 1044mb extended from the Seward Peninsula to the Northern Yukon Territory of Canada near Old Crow.
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 happened
The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.
High winds occurred along the Western Arctic Coast as a warm front moved across the Chukchi Sea. High pressure ranging of 1044mb extended from the Seward Peninsula to the Northern Yukon Territory of Canada near Old Crow. The combination of the High pressure and approaching warm front, formed a very tight pressure gradient across portions of northwest Alaska. Winds up to 58 mph were recorded at the Cape Lisburne AWOS site as the front passed.
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 Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 5, 3:35 PM AST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 5, 3:35 PM AST, 3 hours 20 minutes before
NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED 335 PM AST WED MAR 5 2003 ...UPDATED WATCH/WARNING TABLE... BUBBLE HIGH AT 500MB NOW DEVELOPING OVER THE BERING SEA WILL DOMINATE THE WEATHER OVER NORTHERN ALASKA FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. IN THE NEAR TERM...THE ETA AND GFS MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT IN HANDLING THIS HIGH THROUGH THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. THE HIGH WILL DRIFT NORTH TO BE CENTERED OVER THE CHUKOTSK PENINSULA BY 3PM FRIDAY WITH AN UNUSUALLY STRONG CENTRAL HEIGHT OF AROUND 580DM. TODAYS GFS AND ECMWF ARE IN CLOSER AGREEMENT REGARDING THE COURSE OF THE BUBBLE HIGH IN THE DAYS 3 TO 7 PERIOD THAN PREVIOUS RUNS OF THE GFS AND ECMWF HAVE BEEN. THE ECMWF HAS COME TO ITS SENSES AND ABANDONED THE IDEA OF EJECTING THE BUBBLE HIGH DOWN TO SOUTHEAST ALASKA BY TUESDAY. THE GFS SOLUTION HOLDS THE BUBBLE HIGH NEAR THE CHUKOTSK PENINSULA INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK...WHILE SLOWLY WEAKENING THE CENTRAL HEIGHT. THIS IDEA SEEMS REASONABLE...BIG BLOCKS TEND TO HOLD QUASI-STATIONARY FOR SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE BREAKING DOWN. ARCTIC COAST...A COUPLE OF BAROCLINIC FEATURES RIDING AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF THE BUBBLE HIGH WILL AFFECT THE ARCTIC COAST. FIRST FEATURE IS IDENTIFIED NICELY BY THE ETA MODEL AS A 500MB VORTICITY MAXIMUM CENTERED NEAR 75N 140W AT 3PM TODAY WITH A TROUGH EXTENDING DOWN TO THE EASTERN BROOKS RANGE. POLAR ORBITER SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS LOW AND MID LEVEL CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FEATURE. PRECIPITATION SHOULD BE LIMITED TO FLURRIES OVER THE EASTERN ARCTIC WITH THIS FEATURE. A SECOND FEATURE IS WARM FRONT NOW OVER THE CHUKCHI SEA THAT WILL ADVANCE TO THE CENTRAL ARCTIC COAST BY 3PM THURSDAY...THEN CONTINUE EAST AND WEAKEN. AIRMASS WILL BE WARM...BUT NOT QUITE WARM ENOUGH TO PRODUCE LIQUID PRECIPITATION. THE TOPOGRAPHY WILL FUNNEL THE WEST WINDS IN ZONES 203 AND 204 ON THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...BUT DO NOT EXPECT CONDITIONS TO GET AS LOW AS BLIZZARD LEVELS. WEST COAST...PATCHY COASTAL FOG TONIGHT...OTHERWISE VERY QUIET WEATHER FOR NEXT FEWS DAYS. COASTAL AREAS WITH ONSHORE FLOW AT THE SURFACE WILL HAVE FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR MARINE STRATUS AND FOG. INTERIOR...CLASSIC MARCH WEATHER IN STORE WITH WIDE DIURNAL TEMPERATURE SWINGS IN CALM VALLEYS. DESPITE PREVAILING CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY WEATHER FOR NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...NO WIDESPREAD COOLING IS EXPECTED DUE TO HIGH 500MB HEIGHTS AND 1000-500MB THICKNESSES. VALLEY BOTTOM TEMPERATURES OF 20 TO 30 BELOW ARE AS COLD AS WE WILL PROBABLY GET. .AFG...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...WIND ADVISORY ZONE 201. MARINE...GALE WARNING NEAR CAPE LISBURNE AREA 11A. ES MAR 03
Event by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Flash Flooding and Flood in Georgia, March 5 to 6, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Mississippi, March 5 to 6, 2003
- Winter Storm in New York, March 5, 2003
- Winter Storm in Wyoming, March 5 to 7, 2003
- Winter Weather in Massachusetts, March 5, 2003
- Winter Weather in Vermont, March 5, 2003
- Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, March 5, 2003
- Winter Storm in Montana, March 5 to 8, 2003
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, March 5, 2003
- Winter Weather in New Jersey, March 5, 2003
- Winter Storm in Idaho, March 5 to 7, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, March 5 to 8, 2003
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5347213.