Name: Winter Weather in Alaska, February 18 to 19, 2006
Start: 2006-02-18T12:00
End: 2006-02-19T12:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 1
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.

Moderate winds, with snow and blowing snow produced Winter Weather Advisory conditions over exposed portions of the zone, beyond the immediate area of weather reporting stations. A 42 year old woman, on a solo hunting trip, died from hypothermia when she was stranded after her snowmobile broke down.

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 Feb 18, 6:18 AM AST, 5 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 18, 6:18 AM AST, 5 hours 42 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
618 AM AST SAT FEB 18 2006

.DISCUSSION...MUCH ACTION WITH FAST MOVER RUNNING UP ALASKAS WEST
COAST TODAY. FORTUNATELY ETA AND GFS MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT
REGARDING THE SYNOPTIC-SCALE ISSUES HERE. THIS FEATURE WILL BRING
A GOOD AMOUNT OF WIND AND SNOW TO MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA FROM
THE BROOKS RANGE SOUTH. USUAL WEST COAST LOCATIONS (EXCEPT 213
WHICH IS TOO CLOSE TO THE LOWS CENTER) WILL HAVE BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS TODAY. HEAVIEST SNOW IS POISED TO BE ALONG THE SOUTHERN
SLOPES OF THE BROOKS RANGE...ROUGHLY FROM THE DALTON HIGHWAY
WESTWARD. IN THESE AREAS A COMBINATION OF DYNAMIC FORCING AND
UPSLOPE WILL BE COMBINED.

A COLD ADVECTION CONVECTIVE REGIME WILL THEN RUSH IN SUNDAY BEHIND THIS
FEATURE. THE FAST FLOW ALOFT COMING OFF THE DATA-POOR NORTH
PACIFIC MEANS THE TIMING OF SHORT WAVES TROUGHS ALFOT...AND THUS THE
TIMING OF BEST CHANCES FOR SNOW SHOWERS...WILL BE VERY TOUGH. SO
HAVE OPTED FOR A MORE GENERIC SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS FORECAST
ACROSS BROAD AREAS SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY.

ONE OTHER ISSUE TO CONSIDER LATER TODAY WILL BE POTENTIAL FOR
SIGNIFICANT BLOWING SNOW NORTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE SUNDAY IN THE
POST FRONTAL ENVIRONMENT.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY FOR AKZ225-AKZ226.

WINTER STORM WATCH FOR AKZ220-AKZ221-AKZ222.

WINTER STORM WARNING FOR AKZ206-AKZ208-AKZ210-AKZ217-AKZ218-
AKZ219.

BLIZZARD WARNING FOR AKZ211-AKZ212-AKZ214.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ209-AKZ213-AKZ215-AKZ216.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ200-PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230-PKZ240-
PKZ245.
&&

ES FEB 06

Event by event

1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys

When: February 18, 12:00 PM AST to February 19, 12:00 PM AST
Where: Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Winter Weather, Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys	2006-02-20	42	Female	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

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, February 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: 5493064.