Name: High Wind in Alaska, December 23, 2005
Start: 2005-12-23T07:00
End: 2005-12-23T23:30
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 AFC wrote it up.

A strong north Pacific low moved to the central Aleutian Island area the morning of the 23rd. Lack of observations necessitated estimating the magnitude of the wind based upon surface analysis and the observations at Shemya.

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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 23, 5:00 AM AST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 23, 5:00 AM AST, 2 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 AM AST FRI DEC 23 2005

.DISCUSSION...
AN UPPER LEVEL LONGWAVE TROUGH OVER THE NORTH PACIFIC CONTINUES. THE
PRESENT UPPER LOW SOUTH OF THE AKPEN CONTINUES TO WEAKEN AND MOVE
NORTHEAST AS THE STRONGER LOW SOUTHWEST OF THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS
MOVES EAST AND DEEPENS A BIT MORE. THIS LOW WILL EVENTUALLY SLOW ITS
MOVEMENT AND BECOME THE STEERING LOW.

THE SURFACE LOW IN THE NORTHERN GULF IS PRESENTLY BRINGING RAIN AND
SNOW TO THE SOUTHCENTRAL COAST AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND. SOME
OVERRUNNING IS ALSO BRINGING SOME SNOW FURTHER INLAND. THIS SYSTEM IS
A WEAKER ONE THAN THE LAST COUPLE OF SYSTEMS HOWEVER SNOW AND RAIN IS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE AND SPREAD FURTHER NORTH LATER TODAY. THE LOW
COMES ASHORE BY THIS EVENING AND DISSIPATES ALONG WITH THE
PRECIPITATION BY SAT MORNING.

OUT WEST...THE DEEP 949 MB LOW SOUTHWEST OF SHEMYA IS BRINGING STORM
FORCE WINDS AND A HIGH WIND WARNING TO THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS AND
KEEPING ITS HURRICANE FORCE WINDS SOUTH OF 45N. THE STORM FORCE WINDS
WILL AFFECT THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS THROUGH TODAY AND GALES THROUGH THE
WEEKEND. GALES WILL ALSO IMPACT MUCH OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN
BERING SEA THROUGH THE WEEKEND. SHORTWAVES ALONG THIS LOW WILL BRING
MORE LOWS UP INTO THE GULF THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT
WEEK. LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER STRONG LOW WILL FORM OFF OF JAPAN SUNDAY AND
HAVE A TRACK SIMILAR TO THE LAST ONE AND BECOMING A STEERING LOW OVER
THE ALEUTIANS AS WELL NEXT MIDWEEK.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING 191
MARINE...STORM 172 175 176
      ...GALE 170 171 179 185
      ...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY 185
FIRE WEATHER...NONE

LR/BL DEC 05

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Western Aleutians

When: December 23, 7:00 AM AST to 11:30 PM AST
Where: Western Aleutians forecast zone
Measured: 69 kt (79 mph) estimated 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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, December 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: 5482075.