Name: Blizzard in Alaska, April 19 to 20, 2006
Start: 2006-04-19T15:15
End: 2006-04-20T15:21
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 AFC wrote it up.

A Bering Sea storm pushed its front to the Pribilof Islands April 19th. Strong wind and snow in advance of this front produced a blizzard over the Pribilof Islands from the afternoon of April 19th through the afternoon of April 20th.

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 Apr 19, 1:00 PM AST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 19, 1:00 PM AST, 2 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
200 PM ADT WED APR 19 2006

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS...THE GFS INITIALIZED BEST FOR THE CENTRAL ALEUTIAN LOW FOR
BOTH POSITION AND DEPTH.  BOTH THE GFS AND ETA ARE SLOW TO PICK UP
THE DEVELOPING TRIPLE POINT LOW NEAR COLD BAY LATE THU.  THE UK MET
PICKS THE FEATURE UP WELL AND IS THE MODEL OF CHOICE LATE THU AND
EARLY FRI.  BY FRI ALL THREE MODELS HAVE A LOW IN BRISTOL BAY.  THE
ETA SOLUTION IS PREFERRED FRI AS IT HAS BETTER DEFINITION FOR THE
FRONT IN THE GULF OF ALASKA AND THE ONSHORE RIDGE EXTENDING FROM
SOUTHEAST ALASKA TO COOK INLET.

EAST...MORE STABLE AND LESS SHOWERS TODAY AND THU.  STILL EXPECT
ISOLATED AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS ESPECIALLY INLAND TODAY. RAIN
AND SNOW WILL SPREAD TO KODIAK ISLAND THU NIGHT AND TO THE NORTH GULF
AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND FRI WITH THE FRONT.  GALES LIKELY IN THE
WESTERN GULF AND GAP WINDS IN SOUTH CENTRAL FRI.

WEST...RAIN AND SNOW WILL SPREAD FROM THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN
ALEUTIANS TO THE ALASKA PENINSULA TONIGHT THEN TO BRISTOL BAY AND
KODIAK ISLAND BY LATE THU WITH THE FRONT. SNOW SHOWERS WILL PERSIST
OVER THE SOUTHERN BERING AND ALEUTIANS WEST OF THE FRONT TONIGHT
THROUGH FRI.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE 410 179 176 120 130 350
         HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY 410 185
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

RHH APR 06

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Pribilof Islands

When: April 19, 3:15 PM AST to April 20, 3:21 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 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, April 2006

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: 5495465.