Funnel Cloud in Alaska, July 26, 2005

Name: Funnel Cloud in Alaska, July 26, 2005
Start: 2005-07-26T15:00
End: 2005-07-26T15:01
Location: Alaska

July 26, 2005 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Moderately unstable conditions in interior Alaska extended into the Kuskokwim Delta. A funnel cloud was observed by the Trooper Caravan traveling to Scammon Bay.

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.

Moderately unstable conditions in interior Alaska extended into the Kuskokwim Delta. A funnel cloud was observed by the Trooper Caravan traveling to Scammon Bay. Reports indicate it was lasted for a very brief period of time, less than a few minutes.

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 Jul 26, 4:00 AM AST, 11 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 4:00 AM AST, 11 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 AM ADT TUE JUL 26 2005

.DISCUSSION...
SLOW MOVING UPPER LEVEL TROUGH CENTERED JUST SOUTHWEST OF KODIAK
ISLAND THIS MORNING WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY TODAY AND FINALLY
BEGIN TO KICK EASTWARD TONIGHT. ANOTHER PRECIPITATION BAND FROM THIS
LOW WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHERN ALASKA TODAY. AS WITH PREVIOUS BANDS OVER
THE LAST FEW DAYS...IT WILL DIE OUT AS IT MOVES NORTH. SOME
THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE AGAIN TODAY ALONG THE MCGRATH MOUNTAINS AND
NORTH OF BETHEL AS THE THERMAL RIDGE REMAINS DRAPED OVER THE AREA.

THE MAIN STORM TRACK RUNS FROM NORTHEAST SIBERIA ACROSS KAMCHATKA AND
THE ALEUTIANS INTO THE NORTHERN GULF AND THEN INTO THE SOUTHEAST
ALASKA/BRITISH COLUMBIA COAST. THE STRONG UPPER LEVEL HIGH OVER THE
ARCTIC OCEAN AND THE ALASKAN ARCTIC COAST WILL REMAIN BASICALLY IN
PLACE INTO AT LEAST EARLY NEXT WEEK AND WILL HELP KEEP THE MAIN STORM
TRACK SOUTH OF MAINLAND ALASKA. THE LOW MENTIONED ABOVE WILL SLOWLY
DRIFT ACROSS THE GULF THROUGH FRIDAY WITH PRECIPITATION CHANCES
DWINDLING BY THE END OF THE WEEK. THE WEEKEND LOOKS DRY FOR MOST OF
MAINLAND ALASKA AND THEN CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION WILL CREEP BACK IN
EARLY NEXT WEEK AS THE NEXT LOW SETTLES IN NEAR COLD BAY...ALTHOUGH
THIS LOW LOOKS WEAKER THAN OUR CURRENT ONE.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...NONE.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

LUDWIG JUL 05

Event by event

1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, Kuskokwim Delta

When: July 26, 3:00 PM AST to 3:01 PM AST
Where: Kuskokwim Delta County, 10 mi N of Chevak
Reported by: MARINER

What these are

Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

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: 5456346.