High Wind in Alaska, July 10, 2005

Name: High Wind in Alaska, July 10, 2005
Start: 2005-07-10T15:00
End: 2005-07-10T17:00
Location: Alaska

July 10, 2005 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

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 AFG wrote it up.

A band of strong winds aloft moved down to the surface during afternoon heating and caused a number of trees to blow down in the hills around Fairbanks and in the North Pole area. This created around 5,000 separate power outages, the largest local weather-related outage since the early winter snowstorm of September 1992. The highest wind speed recorded near populated areas was 56 knots or 64 mph at the National Weather Service Forecast Office; the Caribou Peak Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) reported a peak gusts of 49 knots or 56 mph. A MesoNet system at the top of Ester Dome (approximately 3000 foot elevation) reported wind speeds in excess of 50 mph all afternoon through mid-evening, with the highest speed of 83 mph around 2 pm. Although some damage was likely to property, no actual amounts are available as most incidents were minor.

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 Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 10, 1:30 PM AST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 10, 1:30 PM AST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
230 PM ADT SUN JUL 10 2005

.DISCUSSION...
ALOFT...500 MB TROUGH OFF NORTHWEST COAST OF ALASKA SUNDAY IS
INDUCING STRONG WESTERLY FLOW ACROSS THE WEST COAST AND
SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR AND NORTH SLOPE.
EMBEDDED SHORTWAVES WILL SPREAD DYNAMICS FAR TO THE SOUTH AND
SOUTHEAST OF THE TROUGH. MONDAY THE RIDGE MOVES EASTWARD STAYING
NORTH OF THE ARCTIC COAST WHILE THE RIDGE AXIS SPREADS WEST AND
SOUTHWEST DOWN TO CHUKOTKA AND THE BERING SEA. HEIGHTS RISE
BRIEFLY OVER MUCH OF THE INTERIOR SOUTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE WHILE
STIFF WESTERLY FLOW OFF WEST COAST TURNS SOUTHWESTERLY AND
RELAXES. TROUGH AXIS PROGRESSES EAST ON TUESDAY AND ONCE AGAIN
EXTENDS DOWN THE WEST COAST AND WESTERN INTERIOR.
WEDNESDAY...SOUTHERN END OF TROUGH CUTS OFF AROUND KODIAK AND
LIGHT WESTERLIES RETURNS TO NORTHERN ALASKA.

SURFACE...
TWO WEATHER FRONTS ARE CURRENTLY AFFECTING WEATHER ACROSS THE
STATE WITH ONE CURVING SOUTHEAST FROM THE CENTRAL BROOKS RANGE TO
FORTYMILE COUNTRY AND THEN SOUTH TO TOK AND THE ALASKA RANGE.
ANOTHER FRONT EXTENDS SOUTH AND WEST FROM A SURFACE LOW MOVING
EAST FROM KOTZEBUE. THIS ONE APPEARS THE STRONGER OF THE TWO WITH
A HEALTHY BAROCLINIC ZONE AT 850 MB.  AS THE EASTERN FRONT
DISSIPATES MONDAY...THE WESTERN FRONT WILL SET UP EAST...WEST FROM
THE BROOKS RANGE AND THE UPPER KOYUKUK ACROSS THE SEWARD PENINSULA
AND ON TOWARD SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND. BAROCLINICITY WILL WEAKEN ON
TUESDAY...AND SPHERE OF CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY SHOULD EXPAND WITH
BRIEF RIDGING IN THE INTERIOR.

WEST COAST...
BAROCLINICITY EQUALS MOISTURE AND WIND. SOUTH AND EAST OF FRONTAL
ZONE...WINDS IN HIGH GEAR ACROSS UNALAKLEET AND NORTH-FACING
SHORES OF NORTON SOUND. NOME RADAR SHOWING INTENSE BATCH OF RAIN
EXTENDING WEST TO EAST ACROSS NORTON SOUND. THIS BATCH OF RAIN IS
EXPECTED TO MOVE NORTH OVER MONDAY AND TUESDAY GIVING KOTZEBUE AND
AMBLER ITS FAIR SHARE WHILE CONTINUING TO HOSE FRONT STREET IN
NOME. THE NOME COMMUTE UP BERING STREET SHOULD BE ON THE WET SIDE
MONDAY MORNING. TUESDAY...BOTH WINDS AND RAIN SHOULD LESSEN ACROSS
THE REGION.

ARCTIC...
WESTERLY FLOW ACROSS THE ARCTIC WILL TURN BACK EASTERLY AS UPPER
LEVEL TROUGH PASSES EAST AND HIGH PRESSURE TRIES TO RETURN.
SHOWERS WILL NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION WITH SHORTWAVE ACTION
PROGRESSING ACROSS THE COAST FROM WEST TO EAST. FOG MIGHT BE AN
INCREASING ISSUE AROUND KAKTOVIK WITH OPEN WATER TRYING TO CHIP
AWAY ICE FROM THE WEST.

INTERIOR...
STEADY RAINS CONFINED TO UPPER KOYUKUK AND BROOKS RANGE WHILE ONLY
SPOTTY SHOWERS DEVELOPING SOUTH AND EAST. MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH
WESTERLY FLOW MIGHT HAVE BEEN OVEREMPHASIZED BY MODELS RECENTLY.
WESTERLY FLOW THIS TIME OF YEAR OFTEN HAS ROOTS IN DRY INTERIOR OF
SIBERIA...AND THUS WITH SHORT TRAJECTORY OVER RELATIVELY COOLER
WATERS OF BERING SEA...MOISTURE SOURCE MINIMAL.  WITH INCREASED
RIDGING FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS OVER INTERIOR...EXPECT CHANCES
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO REMAIN IN THE FORECAST.
BETTLES...HOWEVER...WILL LIE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF BAROCLINIC
ZONE MOST PRONOUNCED OVER THE WEST COAST.

EXTENDED...
PROGRESSIVE PATTERN OF EASTWARD TRAVELING TROUGHS WITH HEAVY TILT
NORTHEASTWARD KEEPS CONVECTION HEALTHY IN THE INTERIOR WITH GOOD
MOISTURE SOURCING AS WELL AS COOL SHOWERY AND BREEZY CONDITIONS
ALONG THE WEST COAST. ARCTIC MIGHT RECEIVE BREAKS IN LOW CLOUDS
AND FOG WITH RAIN OR SNOW SHOWERS TO PERIODICALLY BREAK STEEP
SURFACE INVERSIONS.

.HYDRO...
HEALTHY RAINS FROM CENTRAL BROOKS RANGE SOUTHWEST OVER TO SEWARD
PENINSULA WILL BE MONITORED IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS FOR
FLOODING CONCERNS. OTHERWISE...STRONG WEST AND SOUTHWEST WINDS
SHOULD KEEP RAINFALL AMOUNTS TO A MINIMUM IN CONVECTION REGIMES IN
THE INTERIOR.

.FIRE WEATHER...
BREEZY CONDITIONS TRANSFERRING DOWN TO SURFACE IN THE INTERIOR
WILL BE AN ISSUE. STEADY RAINS SHOULD WET FUELS FROM SOUTHERN
BROOKS RANGE DOWN UPPER KOYUKUK THROUGH MIDDLE
YUKON...HOWEVER...WETTING RAINS FOR POINTS EASTWARD AND SOUTHWARD
WILL BE SCATTERED THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

.AFG WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...WIND ADVISORY FOR SUMMITS....219...220...221...222
MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY...200...210

JWA JUL 05

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Middle Tanana Valley

When: July 10, 3:00 PM AST to 5:00 PM AST
Where: Middle Tanana Valley forecast zone
Measured: 56 kt (64 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

Every storm in Alaska in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, July 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: 5466317.