Name: High Wind in Alaska, January 26, 2004
Start: 2004-01-26T01:00
End: 2004-01-26T19:00
Location: Alaska

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 AJK wrote it up.

A 1040 mb high over northern British Columbia combined with a trough in the Gulf of Alaska to create a strong offshore pressure gradient. Taku winds developed in the downtown Juneau and Douglas areas on this date. Wind gusts at the Juneau Rock Dump reached as high as 62 mph.

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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 25, 10:45 AM AST, 14 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 25, 10:45 AM AST, 14 hours 15 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
1045 AM AST SUN JAN 25 2004

.SHORT RANGE...CLEAR...COLD AND WINDY WILL CONTINUE TO PERSIST
THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. UPPER LEVEL TROF CENTERED OVER BC AND
EXTENDING WEST INTO CENTRAL ALASKA WILL CONTINUE TO STRETCH OUT
AND SAG SOUTHWARD OVER THE PANHANDLE THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON.
THE 1055MB SURFACE HIGH IN CENTRAL YUKON ATTM WILL WEAKEN
SLIGHTLY AND DRIFT WEST TO BE NEAR EAGLE ALASKA BY 00Z TUE.

THE PRESSURE GRADIENT IS STILL VERY STRONG THROUGHOUT SOUTHEAST
ALASKA AND WILL REMAIN ON THE HIGH SIDE THROUGH MONDAY. WILL KEEP
WIND ADVISORIES FROM FREDRICK SOUND NORTHWARD THROUGH MONDAY AS
MOST OF THE PRESSURE GRADIENT IS IN THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE
FORECAST AREA. WILL UPGRADE THE HIGH WIND WATCH FOR THE DOWNTOWN
JUNEAU AREA TO A WARNING THIS AFTERNOON FOR TONIGHT AND MONDAY AS
CONDITIONS WILL BE CONDUCIVE FOR WIND GUSTS UP TO 70 MPH.

TEMPS WILL CONTINUE TO FALL TODAY AND TONIGHT THROUGHOUT THE
PANHANDLE AS THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF COLD AIR ADVECTION WITH
STRONG OFFSHORE FLOW AT ALL LEVELS. THE SOURCE REGION OF THE AIR
IS VERY COLD AIR SO TEMPS IN THE NORTHERN AREAS WILL GET DOWN
INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS OR BELOW ZERO WHILE THE AREAS ALONG THE
COAST AND IN THE SOUTHERN AREA WILL BE NEAR 10 DEGREES. WITH
THESE COLD TEMPS AND STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE WIND CHILL
ADVISORYS FOR ZONES 18 AND 19 MAY UPGRADE TO WIND CHILL WARNING
FOR 18...WILL ISSUE A WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR DOWNTOWN JUNEAU
AREA FOR TONIGHT.

FOR THE MARINE...HAVE DROPPED GALES IN AREA 36 AND 52 AS MOST OF
THE CURRENT WINDS ARE IN THE SCA RANGE. WILL KEEP STORM WARNING
IN NORTH LYNN CANAL AND GALES IN THE REST OF THE NORTHERN AND
CENTRAL AREAS THROUGH MONDAY. THE HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY CONDITIONS
FROM FREDRICK SOUND NORTHWARD WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TOMORROW.

.LONG RANGE...WILL KEEP TAKU TYPE WINDS IN GRIDS THROUGH
TUE...THEN SURFACE GRADIENT BEGINS TO DECREASE.

AN UPPER LEVEL BLOCKING HIGH OVER NORTHWEST ALASKA WILL SLOWLY
RETROGRADE TO NORTHEAST RUSSIA THROUGH NEXT WEEKEND. ASSOCIATED
RIDGE IN THE CENTRAL GULF OF ALASKA THAT IS BLOCKING STORMS
COMING ACROSS THE GULF INTO SE AK...WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY
NEGATIVELY TILTED AND BEGIN TO ALLOW STORMS TO GET BY SOUTH OF
THE HIGH INTO SE AK BY NEXT WEEKEND. ANY PCPN NEXT WEEKEND WOULD
BE ALL SNOW WITH 850 MB TEMPS -8C OR COLDER.

MODELS DISAGREE ON THE COLDNESS OF THE AIRMASS OVER SE AK AFTER
TUE. LAST NIGHTS MRF KEEPS A DEEPER UPPER TROF CLOSER TO SE AK
AND ABOUT 5 DEGREES COLDER 850 MB TEMPS THAN THIS MORNINGS
AVN...-33C VS -28C. STILL COLD. EVEN OLDER ECM IS MUCH WARMER AT
850 MB THAN MRF/AVN AFTER TUE. NOT MUCH OTHER DIFFERENCE IN
MODELS. ALL KEEP SE AK UNDER THE COLD UPPER LOW ON THE EAST SIDE
OF AN OMEGA BLOCK THROUGH THE CENTRAL GULF.

.AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING THROUGH MONDAY...ZONE 25
         WIND ADVISORY...ZONES...17-24 AND 26
         WIND CHILL ADVISORY...ZONES 18 AND 19 AND 25
MARINE...STORM WARNING...PKZ12
         GALE WARNING...PKZ11...13...21...22...31...32...34
                    ...PKZ43...51
         SCA...PKZ33...35...36...41...42 AND 52

ABJ/LN

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Juneau Borough and Northern Admiralty Island

When: January 26, 1:00 AM AST to 7:00 PM AST
Where: Juneau Borough and Northern Admiralty Island forecast zone
Measured: 54 kt (62 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

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 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, January 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: 5387559.