Heavy Snow, Nern P.W. Snd
- When
- January 9, 9:00 PM AST to January 10, 9:00 PM AST
- Where
- Nern P.W. Snd forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 9 to 10, 2004
A storm over southern Cook Inlet and persistent southwest flow into northern Prince William Sound resulted in Heavy snow over the Valdez area. Snow fell at a rate of 5 inches per hour for several hours.
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.
A storm over southern Cook Inlet and persistent southwest flow into northern Prince William Sound resulted in Heavy snow over the Valdez area. Snow fell at a rate of 5 inches per hour for several hours. Storm total snow fall was 44 inches for Valdez from Friday evening through Saturday evening.
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 Jan 9, 9:00 PM AST, 0 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 9, 9:00 PM AST, 0 minutes before
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION 900 PM AST FRI JAN 9 2004 .DISCUSSION...UKMET/NCEP MODEL INITIALIZATIONS REASONABLE AS WELL AS FORECAST TRENDS. INITIAL GFS 1000-850MB THICKNESS FIELD ALONG THE NORTH GULF HANDLES THE WARM AIR BETTER THEN THE ETA/MESO ETA...WHICH HAVE COLD BIAS. STACKED LOW CENTER OVER THE AK PEN WILL PUSH NORTH OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA TONIGHT AND TO OVER THE SEWARD PEN LATER SAT NIGHT. SECONDARY CENTER LIKELY OVER THE CENTRAL BERING SEA AS SURFACE PRESSURE FALLS AND BROADENING UPPER COMPLEX. LOW CENTER NEAR KODIAK THIS EVENING WILL MOVE INTO COOK INLET TONIGHT AND INTO THE INTERIOR SAT AFTERNOON. EXPECT ENHANCEMENT IN SNOW OVER SOUTHCENTRAL TONIGHT AS LOW AND UPPER SHORT WAVE MOVE THROUGH THE AREA. SURFACE PRESSURE RIDGE MOVES ALONG THE NORTH GULF AND INTERIOR SAT/SUN...SO LOOKS LIKE DRIER AND COLDER WEATHER ON THE WAY. .AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...NONE. MARINE...GALES 3A,5A, AND 6B. RMC JAN 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
- Cold in Pennsylvania, January 9 to 11, 2004
- High Wind in California, January 9, 2004
- Winter Storm in Tennessee, January 9, 2004
- Winter Storm in Virginia, January 9, 2004
- Cold in New Jersey, January 9 to 11, 2004
- High Wind in California, January 9, 2004
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, January 9, 2004
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, January 9, 2004
- Heavy Snow in Kentucky, January 9, 2004
- Winter Storm in North Carolina, January 9, 2004
- Winter Storm in Virginia, January 9, 2004
- Winter Storm in Tennessee, January 9, 2004
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5381926.