Name: Blizzard in Alaska, March 16, 2004
Start: 2004-03-16T17:55
End: 2004-03-16T19:55
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 AFG wrote it up.

With weak low pressure over Norton Sound slowly filling and high pressure over the Bering Sea and Chukotsk Peninsula, a brief period of blizzard conditions likely occured at Tin City when the pressure gradient was oriented favorably.

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 Mar 16, 2:30 PM AST, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 16, 2:30 PM AST, 3 hours 25 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM AST TUE MAR 16 2004

.DISCUSSION...

UPPER AIR: A TROUGH WILL DEEPEN SOUTHWARD OVER NORTHERN ALASKA
TONIGHT AND WED. ON THU MORNING THE TROUGH AXIS WILL EXTEND FROM
THE ARCTIC OVER PRUDHOE BAY TO WEST OF FAIRBANKS. THE AXIS WILL BE
OVER EXTREME EASTERN NORTHERN ALASKA BY THU EVENING AND WILL MOVE
EAST INTO CANADA FRI. A SOUTH TO NORTH RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN
BERING SEA WILL BUILD EASTWARD. ON FRI EVENING THE AXIS WILL
EXTEND NORTH OVER THE PRIBILOFS TO SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND THROUGH
THE BERING STRAIT AND INTO THE CHUKCHI SEA. A CLOSED HIGH MAY FORM
OVER WESTERN ALASKA DURING THE WEEKEND. ARCTIC LOW PRESSURE MOVING
EAST WILL BE NEAR 77N/150W SAT AFTERNOON.

SURFACE: A 1011 MB LOW NEAR HUSLIA WILL MOVE TO NEAR BETTLES
TONIGHT THEN DISSIPATE WED. A 1009 MB LOW NEAR COLD BAY WILL MOVE
EAST INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA TONIGHT AND WED. A 1008 MB LOW 400
MILES SOUTHWEST OF KETCHIKAN AT 3PM AST WED WILL DEEPEN AS IT
MOVES NORTH. AT 3PM THU THE LOW WILL BE 988 MB 75 MILES SOUTH OF
CAPE SUCKLING.

NORTH SLOPE: LIGHT SNOW WILL BE ON THE EAST SIDE OF A TROUGH AXIS
AS IT MOVES ACROSS THE NORTH SLOPE WED THROUGH THU. BY THU EVENING
ALL OF THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BE EAST OF THE AREA. ACCUMULATIONS
WILL BE LESS THAN 1 INCH. A BRISK SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL DEVELOP FRI
AS THE PRESSURE GRADIENT TIGHTENS BETWEEN LOW PRESSURE AT 75N/145E
AND HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE INTERIOR.

WEST COAST: SKIES SHOULD BE CLEARING MOST AREAS WED AS HIGH BUILDS
FROM THE WESTERN BERING SEA. A CONTINUATION OF THE CLEAR SKIES
WILL BE LIKELY THROUGH MOST OF FRI. ARCTIC LOW PRESSURE WILL BEGIN
TO TIGHTEN THE PRESSURE GRADIENT FRI. POSSIBLE GALES WILL DEVELOP
OVER MARINE AREAS COVERING THE SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND WATERS TO THE
CHUKCHI SEA FRI AND FRI NIGHT.

INTERIOR: SNOW DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS WILL AMOUNT TO
GENERALLY LESS THAN 2 INCHES. SOME CLEARING OVER WESTERN INTERIOR
COULD TAKE PLACE THU AS RIDGE BUILDS EASTWARD OVER THE NORTHERN
BERING SEA. FLURRIES MAY LINGER OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN INTERIOR
INTO FRI. ALL OF THE INTERIOR SHOULD BE MOSTLY CLEAR BY FRI
AFTERNOON...HOWEVER THIS WILL BE SHORT LIVED FOR THE NORTHERN
INTERIOR AS ARCTIC LOW PRESSURE AT THE SURFACE MOVES EAST OF
78N/180W.

.AFG...WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...BRISK WIND ADVISORY AREA 9B DALL POINT TO WALES.
         BRISK WIND ADVISORY AREA 10B WALES TO CAPE LISBURNE.

DA MAR 04

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 16, 3:51 PM AST, 2 hours 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
351 PM AST TUE MAR 16 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0349 PM     SNOW             KEYSTONE RIDGE          64.92N 148.27W
03/16/2004  1.00 INCH                           AK   NWS EMPLOYEE

&&

TS

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: March 16, 5:55 PM AST to 7:55 PM AST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

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, March 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: 5388113.