High Wind in Alaska, March 12, 2005

Name: High Wind in Alaska, March 12, 2005
Start: 2005-03-12T13:00
End: 2005-03-12T16:30
Location: Alaska

March 12, 2005 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A strong low moved into the Bering Sea Saturday. High pressure over eastern Alaska resulted in a tight pressure gradient across south central 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 strong low moved into the Bering Sea Saturday. High pressure over eastern Alaska resulted in a tight pressure gradient across south central Alaska. The typical channeled gap winds occurred across the Chugach Mountains. The usual observation sites for these high winds were non-operational. The wind speeds are estimated from the nearby observations and from the surface analysis.

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 12, 5:00 AM AST, 8 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 5:00 AM AST, 8 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 AM AST SAT MAR 12 2005

.DISCUSSION...

MODELS IN GENERALLY GOOD AGREEMENT. GFS SLIGHTLY
PREFERRED...ESPECIALLY IN THE WEST.

A 988 MB LOW NEAR SAINT GEORGE WILL WEAKEN TO 1010 MB NEAR NOME
SAT NIGHT AND MOVE WEST OF BARROW BY MONDAY MORNING. WELL DEFINED
ROTATION WITH SPIRALING BANDS OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. GALE FORCE
WINDS AHEAD OF THE LOW WILL DIMINISH BY EVENING.

A STRONG 954 MB LOW 240 NM SOUTHWEST OF PETROPAVLOVSK WILL WEAKEN TO
971 MB OVER THE NORTHERN KAMCHATKA PENINSULA SUN NIGHT. THE
ASSOCIATED WEATHER FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS SAT
EVENING AND THEN CONTINUE ON INTO THE EASTERN BERING SEA BY MON
MORNING. SOUTHERLY GALE AND STORM FORCE WINDS PRECEDE THE FRONT.

SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST FLOW ACROSS SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA WILL PERSIST
INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. EXPECT CONTINUED BANDS OF RAIN OR SNOW SHOWERS AND
GUSTY WINDS THROUGH CHANNELED AREAS. A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS
OUT OF THE SOUTHEAST PANHANDLE INTO THE COPPER RIVER THIS AFTERNOON
INTENSIFYING THE SITUATION. BUT THE RIDGE IS SHORT LIVED AND WINDS
WILL DROP OFF BY 12Z.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE 3B 5A 5B 6A 8 12B 13A 13B 14
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

ASB MAR 05

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek

When: March 12, 1:00 PM AST to 4:30 PM AST
Where: Anchorage Muni to Bird Creek forecast zone
Measured: 74 kt (85 mph) estimated 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, 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: 5437046.