Blizzard in Alaska, December 4, 2005

Name: Blizzard in Alaska, December 4, 2005
Start: 2005-12-04T14:00
End: 2005-12-04T17:00
Location: Alaska

December 4, 2005 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A low moving into the Alaska Peninsula area produced strong east wind along the Bristol Bay coast along with snow. This resulted in blizzard conditions briefly occurring at Cape Newenham.

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 low moving into the Alaska Peninsula area produced strong east wind along the Bristol Bay coast along with snow. This resulted in blizzard conditions briefly occurring at Cape Newenham.

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 4, 2:00 PM AST, 0 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 4, 2:00 PM AST, 0 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
200 PM AST SUN DEC 4 2005

.DISCUSSION...MODEL INITIALIZATIONS SIMILAR AND REASONABLE. THERE
CONTINUES TO BE SIGNIFICANT MODEL DIFFERENCES ON MSL PRESSURE/WIND
FORECAST FIELDS. NCEP MODEL TEMP/MOISTURE ADVECTION PATTERNS ARE IN
FAIR AGREEMENT. GFS IS A LITTLE MORE AGGRESSIVE ON MOISTURE ADVECTION
INTO SOUTHCENTRAL AND SW AK. THIS SEEMS REASONABLE AS SNOW HAS
STARTED TO SHOW UP ON THE PABC/PAKC RADARS. MORNING PACKAGE IN
GENERAL WAS BASED GFS RUN. WILL CONTINUE SAME THEME WITH SOME
ADJUSTMENTS.

.EAST...
ARCTIC FRONT IS PUSHING NORTH FROM THE AK PEN AND IS EXPECTED TO MOVE
NORTH OF KODIAK CITY EARLY MON MORNING TO THE JUST SOUTH OF THE KENAI
PEN/N GULF COAST MON AFTERNOON. GFS THEN MOVES ARCTIC BOUNDARY OVER
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHERN COPPER RIVER BASIN TUE AFTERNOON. EXPECT
THAT THIS APPEARS TOO FAST AS POCKETS OF COLD AIR WILL REMAIN OVER
INTERIOR VALLEYS SOUTHCENTRAL. EXPECT OVERRUNNING SNOW WILL MOVE INTO
KODIAK ZONE THIS AFTERNOON AND SHOULD SHIFT TO RAIN EARLY MON
MORNING. FREEZING RAIN POTENTIAL KODIAK ZONE LIKELY THIS
AFTERNOON/TONIGHT...MAINLY WEST SIDE OF ISLAND. OVERRUNNING SNOW WILL
SPREAD TO SOUTHCENTRAL TONIGHT AND INTO THE COPPER RIVER ON MON.
FREEZING RAIN POTENTIAL POSSIBLE SOUTHCENTRAL TUE.

.WEST...
ARCTIC BOUNDARY BOUNDARY HAS MOVED NORTH OF THE AK PEN AND WILL
RETREAT TO OVER THE BRISTOL BAY COAST TUE MORNING. ARCTIC FRONT MOVES
TO THE SOUTHERN KUSKOKWIM VALLEY/KUSKOKWIM DELTA MON EVE AND OVER THE
NORTHERN KUSKOKWIM VALLEY MON. RADARS ALONG THE SW COAST SHOW
OVERRUNNING SNOW MOVING TO TOWARD COAST. EXPECT SNOW OVER BRISTOL BAY
WILL BECOME MIXED WITH FREEZING RAIN TONIGHT AND WILL PROB SHIFT TO
RAIN OR MIXED MON. SNOW MOVING INTO THE DELTA PROB WILL BECOME MIXED
WITH FREEZING RAIN MON AS COLD AIR OVERRIDES TRAPPED COLD AIR.

SERIES OF INTENSE LOW PRESSURE CENTERS WILL CONTINUE TO PLAGUE THE
WESTERN/CENTRAL ALEUTIANS NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. EXPECT PERIODS OF
GALES AND GEN RAIN OVER THAT REGION TO CONTINUE.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...SEE CURRENT PACKAGE.

RMC DEC 05

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Bristol Bay

When: December 4, 2:00 PM AST to 5:00 PM AST
Where: Bristol Bay forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

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, 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: 5482070.