Heavy Snow in Alaska, April 17 to 19, 2005

Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, April 17 to 19, 2005
Start: 2005-04-17T15:00
End: 2005-04-19T08:30
Location: Alaska

April 17 to 19, 2005 · NWS AFG · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Heavy snow occurred in several places in the interior as an Arctic front moved southeast on the 17th through 19th. In the Bettles area.

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.

Heavy snow occurred in several places in the interior as an Arctic front moved southeast on the 17th through 19th. In the Bettles area. Snow started at 0900 AST on the 16th. Total accumulation was 9.1 inches. Snow occurred from slow cooling from an Arctic Front drifting southeast over the area and warm moist air overrunning the region. Along the Alaska Range zones, the front pushed moist air upslope to increase the cooling and produced:Zone 225 - 10.7 inches of snow in 24 hours at Denali National Park Headquarters. Snow began early in the morning of the 17th with a total accumulation of 15.5 inches through early morning of the 19th.Zone 226 - 18 inches of snow reported by the Alaska Highway Maintenance camp at Trims on the Richardson Highway. Snow began on the 17th; time unknown.

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 Apr 17, 1:30 PM AST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 17, 1:30 PM AST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM ADT SUN APR 17 2005

.DISCUSSION...QUITE BAROCLINICLY ACTIVE PATTERN OVER NORTHERN
ALASKA FOR MID APRIL. 12Z RAOBS SHOWED A 506DM CLOSED 500MB LOW
JUST WEST OF HUSLIA. ENTIRE FORECAST AREA...WITH EXCEPTION OF
EXTREME SOUTHEAST INTERIOR...IS NOW IN THE ARCTIC AIR. EARLY
MORNING TEMPERATURES IN THE WESTERN INTERIOR RADIATED DOWN TO
BETWEEN -10 AND -20F (A NEW RECORD AT GALENA) WHERE SKIES HAVE
CLEARED AND 850MB TEMPERATURES ARE IN THE -15 TO -25C RANGE.
EASTERN HALF OF THE INTERIOR IS STILL GETTING SOME SNOW ASSOCIATED
WITH THE ARCTIC FRONT. 1039MB HIGH CENTERED NEAR 75N 170E WITH
RIDGES EXTENDING EASTWARD TOWARD BANKS ISLAND AND SOUTH INTO THE
BERING SEA. PRESSURE GRADIENT IS PRODUCING NORTHERLY WINDS GUSTING
AROUND 30KT AT THE USUAL PLACES ALONG THE WEST COAST. THERE IS
SOME BLOWING SNOW IN THESE LOCATIONS. VISIBILITY IN BLOWING SNOW
IS LOWEST AT PAVL...WILL ISSUE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ZONE
207 TONIGHT. ZONE 213 DIDNT RECEIVE MUCH NEW SNOW IN LAST COUPLE
DAYS AS THE 500MB LOW TRACKED THROUGH...SO BLOWING SNOW IS NOW
LESS OF AN ISSUE IN ZONE 213.

TRACK OF 500MB LOW IS UNCERTAIN. 18Z RUNS OF ETA AND GFS NOW SLOW
THE MOVEMENT OF THIS LOW...AS COMPARED TO THE 12Z RUNS...AND THE
ETA IS SLOWER THAN THE GFS.  GOES IMAGERY SHOWS THE LOW MOVING
VERY SLOWLY NOW...SO SLOWER ETA FORECAST MAY BE A GOOD CHANGE.
500MB LOW WILL SLOWLY DRIFT EAST OVER NEXT 48HR AND THEN WEAKEN
INTO A TROUGH. EASTERN INTERIOR WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE A CHANCE
FOR SNOW AS ARCTIC BOUNDARY PLAYS A ROLE. COLD TEMPERATURES IN
WESTERN INTERIOR AGAIN TONIGHT WITH CLEAR SKIES. GFS MOS
TEMPERATURES IN WESTERN INTERIOR ARE WAY TOO WARM TONIGHT...ETA
MOS NOT QUITE SO BAD.

WIND DIRECTION CHANGES COMING TO ARCTIC COAST OVER NEXT COUPLE OF
DAYS AS RIDGE AXIS NOW NORTH OF THE COAST WEAKENS AND DROPS SOUTH
OF THE COAST. THE WIND SPEEDS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW ADVISORY
CRITERIA THROUGHOUT.

IN THE MID RANGE...ECMWF AND UKMET MODELS BRING AN IMPRESSIVE
580DM HIGH OVER SOUTHEAST ALASKA BY THE END OF THE WEEK...WITH
STRONG HEIGHT GRADIENT OVER SOUTHEAST INTERIOR. GFS HAS YET TO
AGREE WITH THIS IDEA...WHILE ECMWF HAS BEEN STICKING WITH THIS
IDEA FOR A COUPLE RUNS NOW.

.AFG WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY ZONE 207.
MARINE...BRISK WIND ADVISORY AREAS 9B AND 10B.

ES APR 05

Event by event

3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Upper Koyukuk Valley

When: April 17, 3:00 PM AST to April 18, 4:00 AM AST
Where: Upper Koyukuk Valley forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Heavy Snow, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: April 17, 9:00 PM AST to April 19, 8:30 AM AST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Reported by: DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

Heavy Snow, Denali

When: April 18, 8:00 AM AST to April 19, 8:00 AM AST
Where: Denali forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

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

Every storm in Alaska in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, April 2005

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: 5446598, 5446600, 5446599.