Name: Heavy Snow and High Wind in Alaska, December 5 to 7, 2005
Start: 2005-12-05T23:00
End: 2005-12-07T23:50
Location: Alaska

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 AFC wrote it up.

a series of intense lows moved from the north pacific into the eastern Bering sea starting on the 5th of December with the most intense low moving to the Aleutians on the 7th of December. The strong southeast flow pushed ample moisture over the very cold Susitna Valley. This resulted in strong orographic lift along the Alaska Range that produced 12 inches of snow on the night of the 5th of December. Strong warm advection into the region resulted in the snow changing to rain by the evening of the 7th of December. This resulted in the typical strong south to southeast flow into the south central region of Alaska. Strong chinook wind developed across the Chugach mountains resulting in wind gusts up to 85 mph in Portage Valley and to 87 mph along Turnagain Arm at McHugh Creek the afternoon and evening of December 7th.

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 5, 2:00 PM AST, 9 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 5, 2:00 PM AST, 9 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
200 PM AST MON DEC 5 2005

.DISCUSSION...MODEL INITIALIZATIONS OK AND FORECAST SOLUTIONS
REASONALBE IN IN GENERAL AGREEMENT.

WINDY WET AND WARM CONDITIONS WILL BE THE GENERAL RULE FOR THE
MAINLAND THROUGH THIS WEEK.

ARCTIC FRONTAL BOUNDARY THIS MORNING EXTENDED FROM ALONG THE NORTHERN
BRISTOL BAY COAST(N-W OF PAKN)..SOUTHERN SOUTHERN KENAI PEN...TO
ALONG THE NORTH GULF COAST. WARM ADVECTION WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH
FRONT NORTH OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. FREEZING RAIN POTENTIAL
WILL CONTINUE TO BE A CONCERN FOR MAINLAND AREAS WITH TRAPPED COLD
AIR UNTIL ARCTIC FRONTAL BOUNDARY PUSHES NORTH. EXPECT SIGNIFICANT
SNOW AMOUNTS OVER THE SUSITNA VALLEY AND TO A LESSER EXTENT THE
COPPER RIVER BASIN TONIGHT AND TUE. HIGHER ELEVATIONS PRINCE WILLIAM
SOUND LIKELY TO GET FAIRLY GOOD SNOW AMOUNTS TONIGHT AND EARLY TUE.
PRECIPITATION LOWER ELEVATIONS LIKELY SHIFTING TO RAIN OR MIXED BY
TUE AFTERNOON.

LOWER 990 MB CENTER CURRENTLY SOUTH OF THE AK PEN MOVES NORTH OF THE
AK PEN TONIGHT AND TO OVER THE DELTA COAST TUE. EXPECT STRONG WINDS
OVER MUCH OF THE GULF AND GAP WINDS SOUTHCENTRAL STARTING TONIGHT AND
CONTINUING INTO TUE AFTERNOON. MAJOR LOW DEVELOPING OVER THE NORTH
PACIFIC MOVES TO JUST SOUTH OF DUTCH HARBOR WED AFTERNOON. PROB WILL
SEE HIGH WIND CONDITIONS ON BACKSIDE OF OCCLUDED FRONT OVER THE
CENTRAL ALEUTIANS WED. HIGH WINDS CONDITIONS ALSO GOOD BET FOR
PORTIONS OF SOUTHCENTRAL WED AND THU.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING ZONE 101. HEAVY SNOW WARNING ZONE 145.
MARINE...SEE CURRENT PACKAGE.

RMC DEC 05

Event by event

2 high wind, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Susitna Valley

When: December 5, 11:00 PM AST to December 6, 7:00 AM AST
Where: Susitna Valley forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

High Wind, Wrn P.W. Snd & Kenai Mtns

When: December 7, 10:35 AM AST to 3:30 PM AST
Where: Wrn P.W. Snd & Kenai Mtns forecast zone
Measured: 75 kt (86 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek

When: December 7, 12:21 PM AST to 11:50 PM AST
Where: Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek forecast zone
Measured: 76 kt (87 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
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: 5482071, 5482073, 5482072.