Name: Blizzard in Alaska, March 31, 2005
Start: 2005-03-31T01:53
End: 2005-03-31T23:30
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 in the Bering Sea pushed a front to the central Bering Sea Thursday afternoon. This produced strong east wind and snow that resulted in Blizzard conditions in the Pribilof Islands Thursday evening and night. A strong low in the Gulf of Alaska just to the southeast of Kodiak Island produced strong northwest wind and snow that resulted in a rare blizzard on the Emerald Isle.

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 30, 5:00 PM AST, 8 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 30, 5:00 PM AST, 8 hours 53 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 PM AST WED MAR 30 2005

.DISCUSSION...
THE MODELS ARE IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT THOUGH I AM LEANING TOWARD
THE GFS.

A 978 MB LOW 330 MILES SOUTH OF MIDDLETON ISLAND WILL MOVE TO 200
MILE SOUTH OF CORDOVA AND STRENGTHEN TO 974 MB THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND
MOVE EAST TO 250 MILES SOUTHEAST OF CORDOVA AND WEAKEN TO 986 MB
FRIDAY AFTERNOON. A WEATHER FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE NORTHERN GULF OF
ALASKA TONIGHT AND WILL WEAKEN ALONG THE CENTRAL GULF COAST AND THE
SOUTHERN KENAI PENINSULA THURSDAY MORNING. A COLD FRONT ALONG THE
WEST SIDE OF COOK INLET AND THROUGH KODIAK ISLAND WILL BECOME
STATIONARY TONIGHT OVER THE CENTRAL KUSKOKWIM VALLEY, NEAR ILIAMNA
AND OVER KODIAK ISLAND TONIGHT AND WILL WEAKEN INTO A TROUGH THURSDAY
NIGHT.

SNOW OVER KODIAK ISLAND WILL END BY LATE AFTERNOON. SNOW OVER THE
SOUTHERN KENAI PENINSULA WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT THEN BECOME
SNOW SHOWERS THURSDAY. SNOW ALONG THE EAST SIDE THE THE KENAI
PENINSULA  AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND WILL INCREASE TONIGHT AND BECOME
SHOWERS THURSDAY. AREAS OF SNOW ALONG THE WEST SIDE OF THE SUSITNA
VALLEY WILL INCREASE THROUGH TONIGHT THEN BECOME SNOW SHOWERS
THURSDAY.

GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE OVER KODIAK ISLAND THIS EVENING
AND WILL SLOWLY WEAKEN THURSDAY.

A 983 MB LOW NORTHEAST OF JAPAN WILL MOVE TO 350 MILES NORTHWEST OF
ATTU AND STRENGTHEN TO 979 MB THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND TO 200 MILES
NORTH OF ATTU AND WEAKEN TO 993 MB FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

A WEATHER FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS TONIGHT AND INTO
THE CENTRAL ALEUTIANS THURSDAY AND WILL WEAKEN OVER THE EASTERN
ALEUTIANS THURSDAY NIGHT.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE 2B, 3ABC, 5AB, 6AB, 12AB, 13AB, 14.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

NM MAR 05

Event by event

2 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Kodiak Peninsula

When: March 31, 1:53 AM AST to 11:00 AM AST
Where: Kodiak Peninsula forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Blizzard, Pribilof Islands

When: March 31, 8:30 PM AST to 11:30 PM AST
Where: Pribilof Islands forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

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: 5437051, 5437050.