Name: Flood in Alaska, May 20 to 25, 2005
Start: 2005-05-20T10:37
End: 2005-05-25T10:29
Location: 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 AFG wrote it up.

The Koyukuk River rose significantly due to upstream rains and snowmelt causing bank erosion at the village of Huslia, there one home was threatened and several utility poles had to me moved. The river water flowed into an adjacent lake, raising it's level and causing minor flooding to several residences along the lakeshore. Damage amounts unknown; expected to be 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 May 20, 5:00 AM AST, 5 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 5:00 AM AST, 5 hours 37 minutes before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
600 AM ADT FRI MAY 20 2005

.DISCUSSION...A VERTICALLY STACKED LOW CENTERED NEAR DAWSON CITY
WILL DRIFT WEST AND DISSIPATE OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR THROUGH
THE WEEKEND. WEAK RIDGING ALOFT OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA WILL
GRADUALLY BUILD IN OVER THE INTERIOR BY MONDAY LEAVING STAGNANT
FLOW AND GENERALLY LIGHT WINDS. MEANWHILE FARTHER WEST...LOW
PRESSURE WILL PERSIST OVER FAR EAST RUSSIA AND THE WESTERN BERING
SEA.

AREAS OF LIGHT RAIN ASSOCIATED WITH THE DAWSON CITY LOW WILL
CONTINUE TO SPREAD INTO THE EASTERN INTERIOR TODAY. PRECIPITATION
WILL BE SHOWERY AWAY FROM THE LOW CENTER AND PUSH ABOUT AS FAR
WEST AS A LINE FROM BETTLES TO MCGRATH. COOLER AIR ALOFT MOVING
SOUTH ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE LOW MAY EVEN BRING SOME MIXED
RAIN/SNOW TONIGHT TO HIGHER TERRAIN NORTH OF FAIRBANKS. RAIN WILL
BE MAINLY SHOWERY OVER ALL OF THE EASTERN INTERIOR ON SUNDAY AS
THE LOW DISSIPATES.

PARTLY CLOUDY AND DRIER CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST IN THE WESTERN
HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH SOME STRATUS AND
FOG ALONG THE COAST. LOW PRESSURE IN THE WESTERN BERING WILL SWING
A WEATHER FRONT TO ST LAWRENCE ISLAND BY MONDAY MORNING...BUT
PRECIPITATION AND STRONGER WINDS SHOULD REMAIN OFFSHORE UNTIL
MONDAY NIGHT/TUESDAY.

HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD OVER THE INTERIOR THROUGH THE
WEEK AND BRING DRY AND WARM CONDITIONS TO MUCH OF THE STATE BY
NEXT WEEKEND.

.HYDRO...FLOOD WARNING FOR THE KOYUKUK RIVER FROM HUSLIA
DOWNSTREAM THROUGH SUNDAY. ADDITIONAL RAIN WILL KEEP MANY EASTERN
INTERIOR RIVERS HIGH BUT WELL WITHIN BANKS.

.FIRE WEATHER...RAINFALL AND CLOUDS OVER EASTERN HALF OF STATE
WILL KEEP RELATIVE HUMIDITIES HIGH.

.AFG WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...DENSE FOG ADVISORY ZONES..206..207
MARINE...NONE

EWP MAY 05

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys

When: May 20, 10:37 AM AST to May 25, 10:29 AM AST
Where: Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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, May 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: 5449329.