Name: Cold in Alaska, January 28 to 29, 2006
Start: 2006-01-28T03:02
End: 2006-01-29T01:00
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.

High pressure strengthened over interior Alaska producing a cold airmass, while low pressure settled over the northern Gulf of Alaska creating a north flow through the passes of the Alaska Range and low Wind Chill values for a period of time. The Road Weather Information System at the State of Alaska Department of Transportation Maintenance Camp at Trims reported wind chills to 62 below zero during this period.

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 Jan 27, 3:06 PM AST, 11 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 3:06 PM AST, 11 hours 56 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
306 PM AST FRI JAN 27 2006

.DISCUSSION...
THE OLD LOW ALOFT THAT WAS OVER NORTON SOUND AT THIS TIME ON THU
IS NOW OVER COOK INLET...AND IS SUPPORTING THE OLD SURFACE LOW OVER
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND. THE SYSTEM HAS SPREAD A BIT OF MOISTURE INTO
THE EASTERN INTERIOR. SATELLITE PICS SHOW CLOUD COVER NOT ONLY
MOVING IN...BUT ALSO DEVELOPING IN PLACE AS THE MOISTURE OVERRUNS
THE COLD AIR NEAR THE SURFACE. WE EXPECT NO MEASURABLE SNOWFALL
THIS SIDE OF THE ALASKA RANGE...BUT THE CLOUD COVER DOES SERVE TO
MODERATE TEMPERATURES SOMEWHAT. THE AIRMASS AS A WHOLE REMAINS QUITE
COLD...WHICH ACCOUNTS IN PART FOR THE STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT THAT
HAS DEVELOPED OVER THE ALASKA RANGE. THIS HAS PROMPTED US TO ISSUE
WIND CHILL ADVISORIES FOR ZONES 225 AND 226.

THE LATEST SHORT WAVE TO MOVE IN FROM THE HIGH ARCTIC SHOWED UP ON
OUR 18Z SURFACE ANALYSIS AS A WEAK WARMFRONT EXTENDING SW-NE FROM
A POINT NOT FAR NORTH OF BARROW. IT APPEARS TO BE OOZING THROUGH
BARROW NOW. THE MODELS QUICKLY LOSE THIS THING AS A SURFACE FEATURE.
THEY DO SHOW IT AND ANOTHER ONE FOLLOWING ON ITS HEELS AS TROUGHS
ALOFT...BUT DIFFER ON HANDLING THE TWO FEATURES. THERE IS A TENDANCY
TO MERGE THEM AS THEY WEAKEN THOUGH...AND WE EXPECT A TROUGH ALOFT
TO FROM ABOUT NOME TO KAKTOVIK AT 9PM SAT. NO MEASURABLE PRECIPITION
SOUTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE...EXCEPT MAYBE A BIT IN ZONES 207 AND 213.

THE LOW LEVEL WARM ADVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THE FEATURES DISCUSSED
ABOVE WILL REACH THE INTERIOR...BUT WILL NOT LIKELY HAVE MUCH IMPACT
ON SURFACE TEMPERATURES AT VALLEY LEVEL IN THE ABSENCE OF CLOUD COVER.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ203-AKZ204-AKZ205-
AKZ207-AKZ210-AKZ213-AKZ223-AKZ225-AKZ226.

DENSE FOG ADVISORY FOR AKZ222.
&&

DJH JAN 06

Event by event

1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Cold/Wind Chill, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: January 28, 3:02 AM AST to January 29, 1:00 AM AST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Cold/Wind Chill: Cold or wind chill below warning criteria that caused deaths, injuries or damage.

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, January 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: 5487956.