Wildfire in Alaska, August 1 to 31, 2004

Name: Wildfire in Alaska, August 1 to 31, 2004
Start: 2004-08-01T00:00
End: 2004-08-31T23:59
Location: Alaska

August 1 to 31, 2004 · NWS AFG · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Event continued from July. Wildfires began over the eastern Interior of Alaska around June 13 and continued through the summer, setting a record year for acres burned since records began in 1950.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $900,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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.

Event continued from July. Wildfires began over the eastern Interior of Alaska around June 13 and continued through the summer, setting a record year for acres burned since records began in 1950. Overall, nearly 6.5 million acres burned across northern Alaska; burned acreage also occurred in these zones not listed: 208, 215, 218, 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 225, 226. Property damage amounts are estimated at $30,000 per structure as of the end of August.Villages/Settlements threatened from these fires: Zone 219: Bettles; Zone 220: Venetie, Central. Zone 222: Haystack Subdivision north of Fairbanks, Chena Hot Springs Resort. Zone 224: Eagle/Eagle Village, Chicken, Northway. As smoke returned to Fairbanks more persistently, a Smoke Respite Center was set up by the American Red Cross at a conference room in the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. August 9: 100 to 150-foot flame lengths reported on the Bolgren Creek fire near Central. Homes along the Steese highway just northeast of Central were evacuated with residents moved to safety zones in Central. August 21: six outbuildings destroyed at the Taylor Complex.Event continued into September.

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 Jul 31, 3:15 PM AST, 8 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 3:15 PM AST, 8 hours 45 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTION
415 PM ADT SAT JUL 31 2004

CORRECTED ISSUE TIME

.DISCUSSION...

.ALOFT...PROGRESSIVE FLOW ALOFT WITH LOW PRESSURE NORTH OF BARROW
WILL MOVE EAST AND BE OVER MACKENZIE BAY SUN AFTERNOON. MODELS
FORECAST THE LOW TO CONTINUE EASTERLY TRACK INTO NORTHERN CANADA
BY EARLY NEXT WEEK. HIGH PRESSURE CURRENTLY OVER THE NORTHERN
BERING SEA FORECAST TO MOVE EAST AND EXTEND FROM SOUTH TO NORTH AS
A RIDGE OVER THE WEST COAST SUN AFTERNOON AND MON. LOW PRESSURE
CURRENTLY OVER THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS WILL TRACK NORTHEAST ALONG THE
WEST SIDE OF THE RIDGE SUN NIGHT THROUGH TUE THEN STALL. THE RIDGE
WILL BE FORCED EAST AND AT MID WEEK WILL BE EAST OF THE ALCAN
BORDER.

.SURFACE...LOW PRESSURE 120 MILES NORTHEAST OF BARROW WILL
CONTINUE TO TRACK EAST INTO NORTHERN CANADA BY MON MORNING. THE
ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO EXTEND FROM OLD CROW TO
CHANDALAR LAKE THEN TO KOTZEBUE. THE FRONT STALLS OVER OVER THE
SEWARD PENINSULA BUT CENTRAL PORTION FORECASTED TO PUSH SOUTH TO
FAIRBANKS SUN AFTERNOON WITH THE EASTERN PORTION INTO SOUTHEAST
AOR BY SUNDAY NIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN BEHIND THE FRONT
AND IS EXPECTED TO BE CENTERED OVER THE NORTH SLOPE AND BROOKS
RANGE SUN NIGHT. WINDS HAVE BEEN ON THE INCREASE THROUGH THE DAY
AND ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN GUSTY THROUGH TONIGHT.

.NORTH SLOPE...BRISK WEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TODAY FOR
MARINE AREAS 11A TO 11B AND FOR THE NORTHERN ARCTIC COAST WHICH
INCLUDES BARROW. ONLY PATCHY PRECIPITATION WILL REMAIN IN THE WAKE
OF THE COLD FRONT WITH WINDS ON THE DECLINE SUNDAY MORNING AS HIGH
PRESSURE BUILDS ACROSS THE AREA. BY TUE THERE SHOULD BE AN
INCREASE OF CLOUDS WEST OF BARROW WITH CHANCE OF SHOWERS WED AS
LOW PRESSURE MOVES NORTH OVER THE BERING SEA. SOUTHERLY FLOW
ACROSS BROOKS RANGE WILL BLOCK MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION FROM THE
REST OF THE NORTH SLOPE. FROM MON THROUGH WED...OFF SHORE FLOW
WILL PREVENT DENSE FOG.

.WEST COAST...THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE COLD FRONT CURRENTLY NEAR
KOTZEBUE IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY WITH THE CENTRAL
PORTION EXPECTED TO DROP SOUTH TO GALENA BY SUN AFTERNOON. NEARLY
ALL OF THE RAIN ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW MOVING EAST OVER THE
ARCTIC WILL STAY MAINLY NORTH OF KOTZEBUE AND GALENA.

.INTERIOR...THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE COLD FRONT MOVING SOUTH
OVER THE AREA HAS INCREASED SOUTHWEST FLOW OVER THE INTERIOR TODAY
AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO TO TONIGHT. RADAR INDICATED A
BAND OF SHOWERS HAS DEVELOPED AHEAD OF THE FRONT AS FAR SOUTH AS
AND CENTRAL...STEVENS VILLAGE...AND JUST NORTH OF TANANA. THESE
SHOWERS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO SPREAD SOUTH THROUGH THE EVENING.
SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL GIVE WAY TO LIGHT RAIN AS UPPER DYNAMICS
MOVES INTO THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. THE
LIGHT RAIN WILL GRADUALLY SPREAD SOUTH THEN BEGIN ENDING OVER THE
NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE INTERIOR BY SUN MORNING. RAIN OVER THE
SOUTHERN AND ESPECIALLY SOUTHEASTERN INTERIOR NORTH OF THE ALASKA
RANGE WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF SUN AND POSSIBILITY INTO SUN
NIGHT. WINDS AND HUMIDITY HAVE REACHED RED FLAG LEVELS DUE TO LATE
ARRIVING PRECIPITATION...IT IS EXPECTED SHOWERS SHOULD MOVE INTO
THESE AREAS LATER TONIGHT AND HUMIDITIES WILL BE ON THE INCREASE
THOUGH THE WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO BE GUSTY.

.HYDRO...RAINFALL AMOUNTS...MOST AREAS CAN EXPECT A QUARTER TO
HALF INCH.

.AFG WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...WIND ADVISORY ZONES 203 AND 204 NORTHERN ARCTIC COAST.
MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES...
            AREA 11A CAPE LISBURNE TO CAPE HALKETT.
            AREA 11B CAPE HALKETT TO DEMARCATION POINT.
FIRE WEATHER...RED FLAG WARNINGS FOLLOWING ZONES...
                  220 SOUTH OF CENTRAL
                  222
                  224 NORTH OF CHICKEN

JHD/DA JUL 04

Event by event

3 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Yukon Flats Nearby Uplands

When: August 1, 12:00 AM AST to August 31, 11:59 PM AST
Where: Yukon Flats Nearby Uplands forecast zone
Property damage: $450,000
Reported by: OTHER FEDERAL AGENCY

Wildfire, Upr Tanana Vly Fortymile

When: August 1, 12:00 AM AST to August 31, 11:59 PM AST
Where: Upr Tanana Vly Fortymile forecast zone
Property damage: $270,000
Reported by: OTHER FEDERAL AGENCY

Wildfire, Middle Tanana Valley

When: August 1, 12:00 AM AST to August 31, 11:59 PM AST
Where: Middle Tanana Valley forecast zone
Property damage: $180,000
Reported by: OTHER FEDERAL AGENCY

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, August 2004

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: 5419591, 5419592, 5419593.