Alaska, 2005

High Wind in Alaska, February 13 to 14, 2005

February 13 to 14, 2005 · NWS AFC · 2 events in 1 county or zone

A strong storm along the Bristol Bay coast and its associated front created strong chinook winds along the upper elevations of the Chugach mountains and along Turnagain Arm Monday afternoon and again Tuesday morning. The wind peaked at 79 mph at McHugh Creek on the evening of the 13th.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

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 storm along the Bristol Bay coast and its associated front created strong chinook winds along the upper elevations of the Chugach mountains and along Turnagain Arm Monday afternoon and again Tuesday morning. The wind peaked at 79 mph at McHugh Creek on the evening of the 13th. Wind peaked at 80 mph at McHugh Creek and at 75 mph at Glenn Alps Tuesday morning.

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 Feb 13, 10:50 AM AST, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 13, 10:50 AM AST, 3 hours 2 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHWEST ALASKA
1050 AM AST SUN FEB 13 2005

.DISCUSSION...
ANALYSIS - THE MAJOR UPPER LOW COMPLEX OVER THE BERING SEA IS SHOWING
SOME SIGNS OF RETRO MOVEMENT WEST BUT HAS ALSO FOUND SOME NEW COLD
AIR -39C AT 500 MB AS PER 12Z PASY RAOB. THE MAIN SURFACE LOW IN THE
BERING HAS FILLED TO 967 MB NEAR ADAK BUT A WAVE HAS DEVELOPED TO 976
MB IN BRISTOL BAY THIS MORNING. NCEP 12Z ANALYSIS SHOWS A MONDO SFC
PRESSURE GRADIENT S OF KODIAK ISLAND AND A COLD FRONT STRUCTURE ALONG
152W OR SO. ANOTHER DEVELOPER IS NEAR 46N 168W AT 16Z ON SATELLITE
PROBABLY AROUND 989 MB WITH DECENT COLD AIR SUPPORT. THE UPPER RIDGE
AXIS IS NOW ALONG 145W OR SO AND THE RADARS ALL SHOW PRECIP ACROSS
OUR GIGANTIC FORECAST AREA. THE JET AT 250 MB THIS MORNING IS VERY
STRONG FROM JAPAN ALONG 35N AT 165 KT WITH THE SPLIT AT 165W.

AER FORECASTS - AS THE DEVELOPING LOW GOES TO BETHEL THIS AFTERNOON
DOWNSLOPE WIND WILL PEAK FOR ANCHORAGE. TEMPERATURES HAVE ALREADY
STARTED TO WARM AFTER A BRISK LAST NIGHT. PLENTY OF SNOW MOVING INTO
ZONE 145 TODAY AS PER RADAR AND THE WEST SIDE THERE SHOULD GET MORE
SNOW OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. AT THE MOMENT THE HIGH WIND WATCH
WILL PROBABLY BE CHANGED TO A WARNING ON THE 4 PM PACKAGE. GFS-190
PREFERRED WITH A SSW JET OVER PAFC 00Z TUE. MOISTURE STREAM WILL BE
AIMED AT PAVW THEN.

ALU FORECASTS - EXPECT A DRY SLOT FOR MUCH OF SW ALASKA AS THE
SURFACE LOW MOVES PAST BETHEL THIS EVENING...BUT THE NEXT DEVELOPER
WILL RAPIDLY PUSH MOISTURE INTO THE AREA LATER TONIGHT. THIS ONE WILL
BE AROUND 972 MB OVER COLD BAY 12Z MON AS PER THE GFS-190 WHICH IS
THE MAIN SFC LOW THEN. ALL MODELS FORECAST A LOW IN THE 970S NEAR
UNALASKA BY 18Z WED.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HI WND WATCH 101. WIND ADV 125 171 181. WINTER WX ADV 161.
         SNOW ADV 145.
MARINE...STORM 132 150. HVY FRZ SPRAY 130 140 141 185.
         GALES 120 125 130 138 141 155 160 165 172 175.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE

JC FEB 05

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek

When
February 13, 1:52 PM AST to 6:30 PM AST
Where
Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek forecast zone
Measured
69 kt (79 mph) measured gust
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek

When
February 14, 7:22 AM AST to 1:00 PM AST
Where
Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek forecast zone
Measured
70 kt (81 mph) measured 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 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 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: 5434062, 5434063.