High Wind, Alaska Peninsula
- When
- November 7, 11:45 PM AST to November 8, 2:00 AM AST
- Where
- Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
- Measured
- 85 kt (98 mph) estimated gust
- Property damage
- $1,000
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
High Wind in Alaska, November 7 to 8, 2003
A strong low in the northern Bering Sea combined with a strong front that swept through the Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula resulted in strong gusty southwest winds across the Cold Bay area. Gusts are estimated to have peaked around 85 mph around Cold Bay.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1,000
- 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 AFC wrote it up.
A strong low in the northern Bering Sea combined with a strong front that swept through the Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula resulted in strong gusty southwest winds across the Cold Bay area. Gusts are estimated to have peaked around 85 mph around Cold Bay. Damage was minimal with reports of flying debris and a shed being blown over.
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 Nov 7, 9:00 PM AST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Nov 7, 9:00 PM AST, 2 hours 45 minutes before
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION 900 PM AST FRI NOV 7 2003 .DISCUSSION... 5 WAVE PATTERN CONTINUES TO DOMINATE THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE THIS EVENING. HUDSON BAY LOW IS MAKING IT/S MOVE TOWARDS A NEW HOME OVER NORTHERN ALASKA BY MONDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL BRING A CHANGE OVER ALL OF ALASKA THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. ON THE SURFACE THIS EVENING A STRONG LOW IS MOVING INTO THE BERING STRAIT THIS EVENING KICKING A FRONT THROUGH SOUTHWEST ALASKA...AND A WARM FRONT THROUGH SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA. EXTENDED DOWN THE FRONT SOUTHWEST OF ATKA IS ANOTHER LOW. OVER IN THE EAST A WEAK LOW EXISTS OVER THE NORTH CENTRAL GULF OF ALASKA WITH A LARGE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE TO THE SOUTH. MODELS AGAIN OUT OF GATE IN PRETTY FAIR AGREEMENT AT THE START AND THROUGH MOST OF THE 60 HOUR FORECAST PERIOD...HOWEVER AT THE 60 HOUR PERIOD THE ETA DEVELOPS A SIGNIFICANT LOW SOUTH OF THE CHAIN...THE UKMET HAS NO FEATURE AND THE GFS HAS A 1012 MB LOW. 18Z RUN OF THE GFS HAD A BAD RUN TODAY AND THE 00Z RUN IS SIMILAR TO THE OLD 12Z RUN. WILL SIDE WITH THE GFS SOLUTION BASED ON OVERALL PREFORMANCE LATELY. AS THE GFS PLAYS OUT WITH TIME IT DEEPENS THE LOW TO A SIMILAR VALUE AS THE ETA AT THE 72 HOUR FRAME. WILL BUY INTO THE SLOWER GFS FOR THIS SOLUTION TONIGHT. THE SYSTEM MOVING INTO THE BERING STRAIT CONTINUES ON IT/S WAY UP INTO THE BROOKS RANGE WITH TIME. THE UPPER LOW THAT HAS BEEN HANGING OUT OVER KAMCHATKA MAKES IT/S MOVE EASTWARD. THIS KICKS A PRETTY STRONG WAVE INTO SOUTHWEST ALASKA EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. THE COLD AIR ADVECTION MACHINE THEN KICKS IN FOR SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA WITH THE -6C 850 MB ISOTHERM MAKING IT THROUGH THE ANCHORAGE BOWL BY 06Z. HOWEVER LAYERED OMEGA FROM 00Z-15Z IS PRETTY NEGATIVE ACROSS THE BOWL...THE BETTER LIFT COMES 15Z-21Z SUN MORNING AS 850 MB TEMPERATURES COOL OFF EVEN MORE. WOULD EXPECT COLD AIR ADVECTION SNOW WITH SOME UPSLOPE AIDE SAT NIGHT. HOWEVER WILL HAVE TO SEE HOW THE MODEL CHANGE IN THE NEXT FEW RUNS. .AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...SNOW ADVISORY 145. WIND ADVISORY 155 161 181 185 191 195. MARINE...GALE 2B 3ABC 5AB 6AB 12A1 12B 13 STORM 8 12A 15 FIRE WEATHER...NONE PROTON NOV 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
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, November 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: 5372192.