Name: Flood in Alaska, August 2 to 3, 2005
Start: 2005-08-02T08:00
End: 2005-08-03T14:00
Location: Alaska

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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 AJK wrote it up.

Summit Lake, located in a British Columbia valley just north of the Salmon River and dammed on the southern end by the Salmon Glacier, has been releasing on a fairly regular basis for the past 40 years. During these outburst floods (known as jökulhlaups), the flow of the Salmon River nearly triples, periodically washing out roads and any structures along the waterway. The records that are available indicate that in the early years (1960s), the lake emptied roughly every other year during the fall or early winter (October through December). But recently, the releases have been occurring annually and considerably earlier in the year (late July through early September).In this event, the road north of the community of Hyder, was flooded for several days in the Ninemile area. This road at one time provided access to mines. Today it is mainly traveled by tourists heading to the overlook of the Salmon Glacier. No other damage was reported.

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 Aug 2, 5:30 AM AST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 5:30 AM AST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
630 AM ADT TUE AUG 2 2005

.SYNOPSIS...
.SHORT RANGE...LOW PRES ABOUT 450 NM S OF KODIAK ISLAND WILL MOVE
SLOWLY NE INTO THE SW GULF BY LATE WED. OCFNT WILL MOVE NE INTO
THE CENTRAL GULF TODAY...THEN INTO ERN GULF TONIGHT. THE FRONT
SHOULD MOVE SLOWLY ONSHORE ON WED.

RAIN IS CURRENTLY OVER THE GULF AND ONSHORE NEAR PAYA. THIS RAIN
WILL SLOWLY MOVE E AND REACH CENTRAL OUTER COAST THIS AFTERNOON
...THEN INLAND OVER THE INNER CHANNELS TONIGHT AND EARLY WED.
GIVEN SLOW MOVEMENT OF SYSTEM...RAINFALL WILL BE PLENTIFUL
ESPECIALLY WED...WITH MORE THAN 2 INCHES LIKELY IN MANY AREAS.

WIND WILL BE THE MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE WITH THIS SYSTEM. GIVEN
STRENGTH OF SYSTEM...LOOKS LIKE GALES WILL OCCUR OVER OUTER
WATERS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...WITH SCA WINDS OVER SOME
OF THE INNER CHANNELS. WINDS SHOULD DROP OFF A BIT ON WED AS
FRONT MOVES ONSHORE.

.LONG RANGE...REMNANTS OF THE FRONTAL BAND PUSHES THROUGH
SOUTHEAST ALASKA WEDNESDAY NIGHT WITH MAIN LOW CONTINUING TO
WEAKEN AS IT DRIFTS NORTHEAST TO THE NORTHEAST GULF OF ALASKA.
THE FLOW AROUND UPPER LEVEL FLOW WILL KEEP SHOWERS ONGOING
THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY.

THERE IS A BUILDING RIDGE OVER THE CENTRAL GULF AHEAD OF THE NEXT
SYSTEM THAT IS BUILDING UP OVER THE WESTERN GULF. THAT LOOKS LIKE
IT WILL BRING A BRIEF BREAK IN THE RAIN LATE FRIDAY THROUGH
SATURDAY. THEN THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL BRING THE NEXT BATCH OF RAIN
LATE SATURDAY AND INTO SUNDAY.

LATER PERIODS OF FORECAST IS A MIXTURE OF MODELS GOING WITH A
SLIGHTLY SLOWER VERSION OF THE SYSTEM FOR UPCOMING WEEKEND.

.AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...NONE
MARINE...GALE...PKZ022-041>043-051-052-310
      ...SCA...PKZ021-033>036

RWT - BMB

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Misty Fjords

When: August 2, 8:00 AM AST to August 3, 2:00 PM AST
Where: Misty Fjords forecast zone
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 55.750, -130.583

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, August 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: 5478965.