Name: High Wind in Alaska, March 10 to 11, 2005
Start: 2005-03-10T06:25
End: 2005-03-11T21:55
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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.

An intense low in the Gulf of Alaska pushed a front into the north gulf coast Thursday morning, March 10th. The intense gradient in advance of this front funneled strong wind through Portage Pass and in the Bear Valley area. The wind peaked at a measured 109 mph in Bear Valley at the staging area for the Whittier Tunnel. The wind peaked at 81 mph at the Portage ASOS at 11:43 AM AST.

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 Mar 10, 5:00 AM AST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 10, 5:00 AM AST, 1 hour 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 AM AST THU MAR 10 2005

.DISCUSSION...STRONG LOW WORKING ITS WAY INTO ALASKA THIS MORNING.
THE CENTER OF THE LOW WILL TAKE A TRACK INTO THE KENAI PENINSULA
LATER TODAY AND FORCE ITS WAY INLAND THIS EVENING. THIS SHOULD ALLOW
THE DOWNSLOPE RAIN/SNOW SHADOWS TO BE NEGATED AND PRECIPITATION IS
EXPECTED FOR MOST INLAND AREAS...PROBABLY RAIN AND NOT SNOW FOR MOST
OF THE LOWER ELEVATIONS.

THE GENERAL UPPER LEVEL PATTERN CONSISTS OF A LONG WAVE UPPER LEVEL
RIDGE STRETCHING ALONG THE NORTH AMERICAN WEST COAST...AND A LONG
WAVE TROUGH THAT CENTERED JUST SOUTH OF THE ALEUTIANS. THIS MILD
WEATHER PATTERN WILL CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND. THE WEST COAST HIGH
WILL RETROGRADE INTO THE EASTERN PACIFIC BY THE END OF THE
WEEKEND...WITH THE RIDGE NUDGING INTO SOUTHERN ALASKA. THIS WILL
BRING A LESS ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN TO THE AREA FOR NEXT WEEK.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE 2B1 2C 3B 4 4A 5A 5B 12A 13B 14.
         STORM 2B 3A 3C.
         HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY 14.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

BL MAR 05

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

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

When: March 10, 6:25 AM AST to March 11, 9:55 PM AST
Where: Wrn P.W. Snd & Kenai Mtns forecast zone
Measured: 95 kt (109 mph) measured gust
Property damage: $20,000
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 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 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: 5437045.