High Wind in Alaska, March 28, 2004

Name: High Wind in Alaska, March 28, 2004
Start: 2004-03-28T03:00
End: 2004-03-28T16:00
Location: Alaska

March 28, 2004 · NWS AJK · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

A 988 mb low dropped south from Prince William Sound into the southern Gulf of Alaska during this time. High west-northwest winds developed behind this system along the Northeast Gulf Coast.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $2,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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 988 mb low dropped south from Prince William Sound into the southern Gulf of Alaska during this time. High west-northwest winds developed behind this system along the Northeast Gulf Coast. High south-southeast winds occurred out ahead of it along the central outer coast and in the Southern Panhandle. Peak wind gusts included: 60 mph in Yakutat, 69 mph at Cape Spencer, 70 mph at the Sitka airport, 67 mph in Hydaburg, and 61 mph at the Ketchikan airport.

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 Mar 28, 2:45 AM AST, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 28, 2:45 AM AST, 15 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
245 AM AST SUN MAR 28 2004

.SYNOPSIS...
.SHORT RANGE...MODELS HANDLING DEEP LOW FINE MOVING IT ONSHORE
OVER CENTRAL GULF COAST EARLY TONIGHT. SECONDARY OCCLUSION
WRAPPING AROUND LOW WILL KEEP STRONG WINDS GOING OVER NORTHERN
ZONES THROUGH THE EVENING...BEFORE DIMINISHING OVERNIGHT.
STRONGEST WINDS OVER EASTERN GULF AND JUNEAU AREA WILL BE THIS
EVENING AS LOW JUMPS ONSHORE AND GRADIENTS TURN MORE SOUTHEAST.
SOUTHERN ZONES WINDS WILL BE DROPPING EARLIER AND SHOULD BE BELOW
HIGH WIND CRITERIA DURING THE AFTERNOON. RAIN TODAY ALSO...BUT
WITH SOME SNOW NORTHERN PANHANDLE THIS MORNING AS SURFACE WINDS
SWITCHED BRIEFLY TO THE NORTH. PRECIP WILL BECOME SHOWERY TONIGHT
AND MONDAY AS COLDER AIR ROTATES AROUND LOW AND INTO THE
GULF...ALTHOUGH FRONT HANGS UP A LITTLE LONGER OVER THE SOUTHERN
PANHANDLE TONIGHT. COLDER AIR WILL SWITCH SHOWERS TO SNOW OVER
EASTERN GULF COAST BY MONDAY...BUT DOES NOT REALLY MAKE ITS WAY
INTO THE PANHANDLE THROUGH MONDAY. SOME MIXED SHOWERS POSSIBLE
ALONG THE COAST IN THE AFTERNOON.

.LONG RANGE...MODELS SHOW LOW SOUTH OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE
ISLANDS MOVING NORTH...CUTTING THROUGH THE SOUTHERN INNER
CHANNELS OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA...ARRIVING OVER NORTHERN BRITISH
COLUMBIA BY TUESDAY MORNING BEFORE MOVING ON TO NORTHWEST
TERRITORIES LATER ON TUESDAY. AT THE SAME TIME THE LOW OVER PRINCE
WILLIAM SOUND WILL BE WEAKENING TO A TROUGH AND DRIFTING NORTHEAST
TO STRETCH FROM THE YUKON TO EASTERN INTERIOR ALASKA BY TUE
AFTERNOON. AS A RESULT...WEST FLOW OF COLDER UNSTABLE AIR
WILL SPREAD OVER THE REGION FROM EASTERN INTERIOR ALASKA AND
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND. THIS WEATHER PATTERN WILL PERSIST THROUGH
TUESDAY NIGHT. LOW PRESSURE MOVING INTO THE SOUTHERN GULF OF
ALASKA WEDNESDAY WILL WEAKEN THE WEST FLOW OVER THE REGION WHILE
AT THE SAME TIME BUILDING A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER SOUTHEAST
ALASKA.

THEREFORE...RAIN OVER SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL SOUTHEAST ALASKA...
CHANGING TO LIGHT SNOW OVER NORTHERN SOUTHEAST ALASKA MON NIGHT.
SCATTERED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS OVER CENTRAL AND  SOUTHERN
SOUTHEAST ALASKA...SKIES BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY ALONG
THE EASTERN GULF COAST...NORTHERN SOUTHEAST ALASKA AND
SOUTHERN OUTER COASTAL SOUTHEAST ALASKA TUESDAY...PERSISTING
TUESDAY NIGHT...EXCEPT WIDELY SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS DEVELOPING
OVER THE EASTERN GULF COAST TUESDAY NIGHT. RAIN AND SNOW
OVER THE WHOLE REGION WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

LOW PRESSURE IN THE SOUTHERN GULF OF ALASKA WEDNESDAY NIGHT WILL
MOVE THROUGH CENTRAL SOUTHEAST ALASKA THURSDAY.
THE NEXT STRONGER LOW WILL FOLLOW...MOVING INTO THE SOUTHWEST
GULF OF ALASKA THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND THEN INTO THE NORTHEAST
GULF OF ALASKA FRI. MODELS SHOW THE ASSOCIATED FRONTAL SYSTEM
MOVING OVER SOUTHEAST ALASKA FRIDAY AND BECOMING STATIONARY.
THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN STATIONARY OVER SOUTHEAST
ALASKA WHILE THE LOW MOVES FROM THE NORTHEAST GULF OF ALASKA TO
THE SOUTHERN YUKON SATURDAY.

RAIN DEVELOPING THU CONTINUING THROUGH FRIDAY. RAIN CONTINUING
SATURDAY OVER CENTRAL SOUTHERN SOUTHEAST ALASKA. RAIN ENDING AND
SKIES BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY OVER THE EASTERN GULF COAST AND
NORTHERN SOUTHEAST ALASKA.

.AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING ZONES 17 20 21 22 23 25 27 28 WIND
ADVISORY ZONES 18 19 24 26
MARINE...STORMS OUTER WATERS GALE INNER CHANNELS

Event by event

5 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Southern Inner Channels

When: March 28, 3:00 AM AST to 5:00 AM AST
Where: Southern Inner Channels forecast zone
Measured: 53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Dixon Entrance to Cape Decision Coastal Area

When: March 28, 6:00 AM AST to 8:00 AM AST
Where: Dixon Entrance to Cape Decision Coastal Area forecast zone
Measured: 58 kt (67 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Salisbury Sound to Cape Fairweather Coastal Area

When: March 28, 12:20 PM AST to 3:30 PM AST
Where: Salisbury Sound to Cape Fairweather Coastal Area forecast zone
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Cape Decision to Salisbury Sound Coastal Area

When: March 28, 2:20 PM AST to 4:00 PM AST
Where: Cape Decision to Salisbury Sound Coastal Area forecast zone
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph) measured gust
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Cape Fairweather to Cape Suckling Coastal Area

When: March 28, 3:15 PM AST to 4:00 PM AST
Where: Cape Fairweather to Cape Suckling Coastal Area forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 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

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: 5390160, 5390159, 5390157, 5390158, 5390156.