Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, September 27 to 28, 2004
Start: 2004-09-27T00:00
End: 2004-09-28T07:00
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 AFG wrote it up.

A cold front moving east across the interior of Alaska created heavy snowfall over the Isabel Pass region of the Richardson Highway through the Alaska Range. Twelve to 18 inches of snow fell over the highway during the period, as reported by the State of Alaska Department of Transportation's Trims Camp foreman.

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 Sep 26, 1:30 PM AST, 10 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 26, 1:30 PM AST, 10 hours 30 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM ADT SUN SEP 26 2004

.DISCUSSION...507 DM UPPER LOW CENTERED OVER CHUKCHI SEA (20Z) IS
SHOWN ON GOES IMAGERY SLOWLY SINKING ESE AS MODELS FORECAST. UPPER
LOW ABOUT 526DM WITH 984MB SURFACE LOW AND OCCLUDED FRONTAL SYSTEM
CENTERED OVER COOK INLET IS PULLING NE IN THE FLOW AHEAD OF THE
CHUKCHI SEA LOW. WARM FRONT WITH THIS HAS GONE ALOFT N OF THE AK
RANGE BUT CHINOOK SRLY FLOW HAS WARMED UP/DRIED OUT WEATHER OVER
ZONE 225 TO PANN-PAFA-PAEG AND POINTS S AND E. THE SURFACE ARCTIC
FRONT LIES JUST W AND N OF THIS LINE...OVER-RUNNING SNOWFALL IS
WIDESPREAD BEHIND IT OVER THE NORTHERN AND WEST-CENTRAL INTERIOR.
OCEAN-EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS ARE WIDESPREAD OVER THE WRN N SLOPE AND
W COAST AS COLD AIR FEEDING AROUND THE NEWEST UPPER LOW DIVES SE
OVER THE OPEN WATERS OF THE CHUKCHI AND BERING SEAS.

MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT AND MID TERM. LEE-SIDE
SURFACE LOW DEVELOPMENT FROM THE COOK INLET LOW MOVING N OVER THE
CENTRAL INTERIOR TODAY WILL REACH ERN ARCTIC COAST NR PABA AROUND
12Z MON. ARCTIC FRONT WILL RAPIDLY SHIFT E ACROSS THE INTERIOR
LATER TODAY AND OVERNIGHT BEHIND THIS LOW PASSAGE. THE CHUKCHI SEA
UPPER LOW WILL SLOWLY WOBBLE E OVER THE BROOKS RANGE MON AND TUE
THEN SHIFT E INTO THE YUKON WED...FOLLOWED BY WEAK UPPER RIDGING.
ANOTHER LOW MAY PULL NE FROM THE GULF AK LATE WED AND THU FOR
ANOTHER OVER-RUNNING PRECIP. EVENT AND CHINOOK FOR THE EASTERN
INTERIOR.

W COAST:  SCATTERED OCEAN-EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS THE MAIN STORY NEXT
TWO DAYS...WITH HEAVIEST AMOUNTS AND SOME ACCUMULATIONS LIKELY
ON THE W AND N FACING COASTAL MARGINS. GUSTY NW WINDS MON SRN
CHUKCHI SEA COAST (PASH) AREA WILL SHIFT TO N AND NE MON NIGHT/TUE
SO COASTAL FLOODING ISSUES HOPEFULLY WILL NOT RESURRECT.

N SLOPE: LOW MOVING N OVER INTERIOR TOWARD PABA WILL RAPIDLY
TIGHTEN UP SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS THIS EVENING AND BRING
GALE FORCE/ADVISORY STRENGTH WINDS FROM ABOUT PAWI-PABR-CAPE
HALKETT THROUGH MON NIGHT...DIMINISHING TUE. HEAVY SURF ADVISORY
HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THIS FROM PABR-CAPE HALKETT. OVER-RUNNING
SNOW WILL ACCOMPANY THIS...BUT COUNTING ON SURFACE TEMPS. CLOSE
TO 32F BECAUSE OF OPEN WATER PROXIMITY TO KEEP VISIBILITIES IN
BLSN FROM REACHING BLIZ CRITERIA. WILL HAVE TO MONITOR THIS.
BREEZY WITH WEST WINDS E OF PASC TONIGHT AND MON...WITH LESS
POTENTIAL VISIBILITY REDUCTIONS. HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR ZONE
206 TONIGHT GOOD WITH STRONG UPSLOPE/OVER-RUNNING SNOW OVER
THE CREST OF THE BROOKS RANGE AND THROUGH THE PASSES.

INTERIOR: CHINOOK WARMTH AND SOUTH WINDS WILL COME TO A QUICK
END THIS EVENING PAFA TO PABI...BUT WILL TAKE UNTIL 12Z MON OR
LITTLE LATER TO REACH PAOR. GOOD OVER-RUNNING SNOWS OVER ZONE
219 AND THE UPLANDS OF 220 AND 221 WILL CONTINUE OVER-NIGHT THEN
TAPER TO SCATTERED SHSN MON MORNING. VALLEY LOCATIONS LIKE PANN/
PAFA/PABI MAY SEE AN INCH OR TWO ACCUMULATION TONIGHT WITH AND
BEHIND ARCTIC FRONTAL PASSAGE. COLDER WITH SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS
ALL AREAS MON AND TUE IN SW TO W LOW-MID LEVEL FLOW AROUND THE
UPPER LOW SLIDING BY TO THE N. SNOW SHOWERS DIMINISHING LATE
TUE NIGHT AS THE LOW MOVES E INTO CANADA.

.HYDRO...NO SIGNIFICANT ISSUES.
.FIRE WEATHER...NO SIGNIFICANT ISSUES.

.AFG WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...HEAVY SNOW WARNING TONIGHT ZONE 226. HEAVY SNOW WARNING
THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT ZONE 205.
MARINE...HEAVY SURF ADVISORY POINT BARROW TO PITT POINT LATE
TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY AREAS 10B AND
11.

MAR SEP 04

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: September 27, 12:00 AM AST to September 28, 7:00 AM AST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Reported by: DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, September 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: 5424295.