Name: Blizzard and Cold in Alaska, March 27 to 29, 2004
Start: 2004-03-27T22:32
End: 2004-03-29T08:17
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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.

A moderately strong northerly gradient formed over northwest Alaska under a cold airmass, likely creating blizzard conditions at Tin City, as well as extreme wind chills at:Zone 210: Hoodoo Hill Remote Automated Weather Station : -64 FZone 207: Kivalina ASOS: -67 F

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 27, 2:30 PM AST, 8 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 27, 2:30 PM AST, 8 hours 2 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM AST SAT MAR 27 2004

.DISCUSSION...AT 18Z THERE WAS APPARENTLY STILL A SURFACE LOW
JUST SOUTHEAST OF THE KENAI PENINSULA AT ABOUT 997 MB. THIS CENTER
IS EXPECTED TO FILL PRETTY RAPIDLY AS THE NEXT SYSTEM APPROACHES.
ON THE OTHER HAND...THE SURFACE TROUGH FROM ABOUT PANC-PAOR WILL
PERSIST THROUGH AT LEAST 3AM SUN...AND WILL LIKELY STILL BE
DETECTABLE ON SATELLITE PICS AT 3PM SUN. IT WILL LIKELY GET NUDGED
NORTH AND WEST AS IT WEAKENS...BUT APPEARS UNLIKELY TO GENERATE
MORE THAN AN INCH OF SNOW....EXCEPT MAYBE IN THE ALASKA RANGE.

THE NEXT LOW WILL HAVE MORE IMPACT...AND NOT JUST OVER THE EASTERN
INTERIOR. STILL SOUTH OF 50N AT PRESENT...IT IS EXPECTED DEEPEN
AS IT MOVES NORTH TO BE ABOUT 976 MB 120 MILES SOUTH OF PACV AT
3PM SUN. THE OCCLUDED FRONT WILL BE MOVING ASHORE OVER THE NORTH
GULF COAST AROUND 9AM AND WILL BE MOSTLY ALOFT FROM ABOUT PAWR
TO CYDA AT 3PM. THE OVERRUNNING SNOWFALL OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR
FROM THIS ONE WONT LAST THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING...AS THE SURFACE
CENTER IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN PRETTY RAPIDLY OVER PRINCE WILLIAM
SOUND AS THE CENTER ALOFT MOVES INLAND...WITH A NEW SURFACE LOW
LIKELY DEVELOPING NEAR CYDA BY 3AM MON AND MOVING NORTHEAST. LIGHT
SNOW WILL LIKELY CONTINUE OVER PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN INTERIOR
AS THE COLD ADVECTION BEHIND THIS ONE KICKS IN.

MEANWHILE...THE MUCH STRONGER LOW ALOFT CENTERED NEAR PAQT IS
ALSO ON THE MOVE...ITS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR PAOT AT 3PM SUN...
THEN DECELERATE AS IT ABSORBES THE LOW ALOFT ASSOCIATED WITH
THE GULF SYSTEM TO BE NEAR PAKK AT 3PM MON. THERE WILL BE STRONG
LOW LEVEL COLD ADVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ONE...AND WITH
SHARPLY FALLING SURFACE PRESSURES OVER MAINLAND ALASKA ASSOCIATED
WITH THE GULF SYSTEM...EXPECT STRONG WINDS TO DEVELOP OVER THE
WEST COAST...MOST NOTABLY OVER ZONES 207/13/14 WEST OF THE TROUGH
ALOFT.

.AFG...WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...WIND CHILL ADVISORY TONIGHT ZONE 201...SUN ZONES 201
          AND 207.
MARINE...BRISK WIND TONIGHT AND GALE SUN OVER AREAS 9A/B AND 11A.
         GALE THROUGH SUN AREA 10B.
         BRISK WIND AREAS 10A AND 11B SUN

DJH MAR 04

Event by event

2 cold/wind chill, 1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: March 27, 10:32 PM AST to March 29, 12:53 AM AST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Cold/Wind Chill, Chukchi Sea Coast

When: March 28, 1:42 AM AST to March 29, 1:53 AM AST
Where: Chukchi Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Cold/Wind Chill, Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula

When: March 28, 8:19 PM AST to March 29, 8:17 AM AST
Where: Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula 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.
Cold/Wind Chill: Cold or wind chill below warning criteria that caused deaths, injuries or damage.

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: 5388124, 5388126, 5388125.