Name: Winter Storm in Alaska, January 3 to 4, 2005
Start: 2005-01-03T05:00
End: 2005-01-04T16:00
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 storm system south of the Gulf of Alaska merged with a front moving eastward off the central Bering Sea. The southerly flow and abundant moisture supply brought up to 35 inches of snow in 24 hrs to areas North of Talkeetna. The influx of warm air also produced mixed precipitation in southern portions of the zone with freezing rain and rain 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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 3, 5:00 AM AST, 0 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 3, 5:00 AM AST, 0 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA
500 AM AST MON JAN 3 2005

.DISCUSSION...

AN OMEGA BLOCK HAS SET-UP OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC...WITH THE RIDGE
AXIS EXTENDING THROUGH THE EASTERN GULF OVER THE AK-YUKON TERRITORY
BORDER. THE TROUGH IN THE CENTRAL BERING COMBINED WITH THE RIDGE
HAS SET UP A SOUTHWEST FLOW FROM THE ALASKA PENINSULA EAST. THE JET
IS DRIVING MOISTURE AND WARM AIR INTO THE WESTERN MAINLAND ZONES AND
SOUTHCENTRAL...PRODUCING SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW IN THE KUSKOKWIM
VALLEY WITH RAIN AND IN BRISTOL BAY AND FREEZING RAIN ALONG COASTAL
AREAS OF SOUTHCENTRAL AND HEAVY SNOW FOR THE NORTHERN SUSITNA AND
POSSIBLY THE NORTHERN COPPER RIVER BASIN. A STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT
HAS SET-UP THROUGH SOUTHCENTRAL THIS MORNING WITH THE ADVANCING FRONT
OVER THE ALASKA PENINSULA AND THE PERSISTENT RIDGE OVER THE
PANHANDLE. EAST TO WEST GAPS WINDS SUCH AS TURNAGAIN ARM AND THE
ANCHORAGE HILLSIDE. EAGLE RIVER WINDS ARE GUSTY AS WELL. WINDS WILL
RELAX THIS AFTERNOON AS THE FRONT MOVES OVER SOUTHCENTRAL...AND THE
GRADIENT MOVES EAST.

THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL PROGRESS SLOWLY EAST TODAY. BY TUESDAY
NIGHT THE BASE OF THE TROUGH WILL MOVE OVER SOUTHCENTRAL...
FLATTENING THE AXIS OF THE RIDGE OVER THE GULF. PRECIPITATION WILL
DIMINISH ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE TROUGH. ON WEDNESDAY MORNING A RIDGE
AXIS OVER THE CENTRAL ALEUTIANS WILL BUILD OVER THE ALASKA PENINSULA.
 THIS WILL BRING A DRIER COLDER NORTHWEST FLOW TO OUR MAINLAND ZONES
WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY. THE CENTER OF THE RIDGE WILL THEN BUILD OVER
BRISTOL BAY BY THURSDAY NIGHT. THE CENTER IS THEN PROJECTED TO MOVE
OVER SOUTHCENTRAL BY NEXT WEEKEND. WE ARE STILL LOOKING FOR THE
POSSIBILITY OF A PROLONGED PERIOD OF FOG FOR MAINLAND ALASKA AND
SOUTHCENTRAL AT THE END OF THE WORKWEEK THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HEAVY SNOW...145
         HIGH WIND...101
MARINE...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY...8 14
         GALE...13A 13B 14
FIRE WEATHER...NONE

AFISH JAN 05

Event by event

1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Susitna Valley

When: January 3, 5:00 AM AST to January 4, 4:00 PM AST
Where: Susitna Valley forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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, January 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: 5433608.