Heavy Snow, Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek
- When
- December 2, 4:00 PM AST to December 3, 3:00 AM AST
- Where
- Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 2 to 3, 2004
The combination of a moderate low in western Prince William Sound and the arctic front extending across northern Cook Inlet resulted in heavy snow falling across the Anchorage area. Snow fall accumulations were from 18 inches along the Hillside and Eagle River to 8 inches near the Inlet and west Anchorage Thursday evening to early Friday morning.
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 AFC wrote it up.
The combination of a moderate low in western Prince William Sound and the arctic front extending across northern Cook Inlet resulted in heavy snow falling across the Anchorage area. Snow fall accumulations were from 18 inches along the Hillside and Eagle River to 8 inches near the Inlet and west Anchorage Thursday evening to early Friday morning.
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 Dec 2, 10:30 AM AST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 2, 10:30 AM AST, 5 hours 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA 1030 AM AST THU DEC 2 2004 .DISCUSSION... ANALYSIS - ON THE HEMISPHERIC SCALE THE DOMINANT VORTEX IS NEAR THE POLE DOWN TO JUST WEST OF HUDSON BAY. A SECOND COMPLEX IS FROM N CENTRAL RUSSIA TO A DEEP TROUGH EXTENDING SOUTH OF KAMCHATKA. ONE COULD COUNT FROM 3-5 MAJOR WAVES IN THE N HEMISPHERE. AN UPPER LOW WAS OVER THE BERING STRAIT THIS MORNING WITH 500 MB TEMPS AROUND -38C. A SECONDARY UPPER LOW CENTER WAS OVER THE AKPENN AT 12Z WITH 500 MB TEMPS AROUND -29C AS PER RAOBS. THIS SUPPORTS A 976 MB LOW OFF SAND POINT AT 12Z WITH A FULL OCCLUDED FRONT. A 981 MB TRIPLE POINT LOW WAS JUST OFF KODIAK CITY AT 12Z BUT SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THIS TRIPLE POINT RAPIDLY BECOMING THE MAIN LOW. THE MAIN COLD FRONT IS FROM AROUND CAPE SUCKLING AT 18Z EXTENDING SW WITH NO SIGNIFICANT WAVES ON THE FRONT YET. THE JET AT 250 MB IS AROUND 145 KNOTS THIS MORNING OVER THE FRONT THEN BECOMING ANTICYCLONIC OVER NW CANADA. AER FORECASTS - ALL MODELS LOCK ONTO THE TRIPLE POINT IN THE FIRST FEW HOURS AND MOVE IT TO CAPE HINCHINBROOK AS THE MAIN LOW. THE RESULTANT CIRCULATION AND TEMPERATURE ADVECTION PATTERN IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE CLASSIC PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND LOW THAT SOME SNOW WILL OCCUR FOR MUCH OF SOUTH CENTRAL INTO THIS EVENING. AS THE LOW KICKS OUT TO YAKUTAT BY FRI AFTERNOON THE FLOW ALOFT BECOMES WNW AS PER ALL MODELS WITH A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE BUILDING OVER THE EASTERN BERING SEA. BY SAT AFTERNOON ALL MODELS INSIST THAT THE FLOW ALOFT OVER S CENTRAL WILL BE NW AHEAD OF THE UPPER RIDGE FOR COOLER TEMPS AND DRYING. HOPEFULLY THIS RIDGE WILL HOLD INTO MON AS PER THE 12Z GFS. ALU FORECASTS - THANKS TO SOME STRONG NW FLOW ALOFT BRINGING COLD AIR S AND W OF KAMCHATKA IT IS CERTAIN THAT A SIGNIFICANT STORM FORCE LOW WILL DEVELOP W OF SHEMYA BY FRI WITH TRIPLE POINTS OFF TO THE S AND SE ON THE MAIN FRONT. THIS WILL ALLOW A SURFACE RIDGE TO PERSIST AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM OVER THE EASTERN BERING SEA AS PER ALL THE MODELS AND WILL FINALLY MOVE INLAND ONTO THE SW COAST MIDDAY SAT. THE TOUGH QUESTION IS WHAT IS THE TRACK AND INTENSITY OF SECONDARY LOWS MOVING INTO THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS LATER ON SAT AND SAT NIGHT. THE OLD ECMWF RUN FCSTS A 991 MB LOW OVER PACD BY 18Z SAT WHILE THE 12Z GFS-190 AND ETA HOLD OFF THE FRONT SHORT OF THE PRIBILOFS. WE WILL GO WITH THE LESS AGGRESSIVE GFS FOR TIMING. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...WIND ADVSRY 135 171 185 187 191 195. MARINE...STORM 3A 12B 13AB. GALES 2B 3BC 5AB. FIRE WEATHER...NONE. JC DEC 04
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 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: 5428316.