1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 8, 9:00 PM AST, 15 hours earlier.
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION 900 PM AST SAT MAR 8 2003 .DISCUSSION...AVN MODEL LOOKS OVERALL THE BEST. UPPER RIDGE OVER THE MAINLAND PRETTY MUCH HOLDS IN PLACE. UPPER TROUGH EXTENDING FROM THE BEAUFORT SEA TO THE GULF OF ALASKA DIGS SOME OVER THE LAST GULF OF ALASKA THROUGH MON NIGHT. SURFACE RIDGE EXTENDING FROM CENTER NEAR CHUKCHI SEA TO OVER BRITISH COLUMBIA REMAINS IN PLACE. SECONDARY 1007MB LOW CENTER BREAKS OF COMPLEX MOVING TOWARD SOUTHEAST ALASKA LATER SUN. CENTER THEN GETS WRAPPED IN FLOW AHEAD OF NEXT CENTER AND MOVES SOUTHWEST. MODEL FORECAST BRINGS THIS NEXT DEVELOPER TO NEAR 50N 147W AT 981 MB EARLY TUE MORNING. IN THE SHORT TERM OPEN/CLOSED CELL CU(SNOW SHOWERS) GENERATED BY COLD OFFSHORE OUTFLOW FROM SOUTHCENTRAL/NORTH GULF CONTINUES OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA AND KODIAK ISLAND THROUGH SUN. THE PRESSURE GRADIENT IS ALSO LIKELY TO INTENSIFY SUN AS WEAK LOW MOVES INTO THE GULF. THE GRADIENT SHOULD RELAX SOME MON. RELATIVELY DRY AND COLD AIR SHOULD CONTINUE OVER THE MAINLAND. BRISK EASTERLY FLOW CONTINUES OVER THE ALEUTIANS. .AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WATCH ZONE 131. MARINE...GALES: 2B/B1/C,3A/C,5B,12A/A1/B, AND 13. RMC MAR 03
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong northerly winds out of the Copper River drainage likely reached 75+ mph as cold air moved south into the Gulf of Alaska. Blowing dust from the river reached southward past Middleton Island. No direct observations are available from this known area of strong winds.
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, March 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: 5340795.