Heavy Snow in Alaska, March 16, 2006

Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, March 16, 2006
Start: 2006-03-16T09:00
End: 2006-03-16T10:00
Location: Alaska

March 16, 2006 · NWS AJK · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $2,000
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 AJK wrote it up.

A weak surface low near Prince Rupert, British Columbia moved to just east of Hyder through the day. Snow began as colder air began to wrap around the low displacing slightly warmer and moister air, and as the low changed position it ended. The WSO at Annette reported 7" of snow from this event. Several spotters around Ketchikan received 4 to 5 inches.

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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 16, 6:30 AM AST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 16, 6:30 AM AST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
630 AM AST THU MAR 16 2006

.SYNOPSIS...
.SHORT RANGE...INVERTED TROF OVER SRN SE AK WILL DRIFT SLOWLY EWD
INTO BC BY THIS EVENING. UPPER TROF OVER THE AREA WILL SHIFT
SLIGHTLY NE FRI. WEAK LOW OVER THE NRN GULF WILL MOVE SE AND PASS
JUST S OF THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY FRI.

MAIN CONCERN IS THE SNOW GOING ON OVER THE SRN AREA. SNOW IS
FALLING AT A DECENT CLIP THERE...WITH PANT ALREADY GETTING ABOUT
4 INCHES THRU 14Z. BACK EDGE OF SNOW APPEARS TO BE ALONG A
PAHY-PAWG LINE AT 14Z...AND SHIFTING EWD SLOWLY. THINK THE
PAKT/PANT AREAS WILL CONTINUE TO SEE DECENT SNOWFALL RATES THRU
ABOUT 21Z...AND THE HYDER AREA THRU 03Z...WITH A FEW HOURS AT
MOST OF MUCH LIGHTER SNOW AFTER THEN BEFORE IT ENDS. BASED ON
THAT AND THE SNOWFALL SO FAR...DECIDED TO GO WITH A HVY SNOW
WARNING FOR ZONE 28 THRU NOON AND ZONE 29 THRU 6 PM TODAY.
THINKING TOTAL SNOWFALL OF 5 TO 9 INCHES FOR PAKT/PANT ZONE...AND
10 TO 15 INCHES FOR HYDER ZONE. FOR THE ERN EDGES OF ZONE 26 AND
27...THINK THEY MAY GET UP TO 1 INCH EARLY THIS MORNING.

OTHER BIG ISSUE IS THE COLD AIR. HAVE LOWERED TEMPS SOMEWHAT FOR
THE NEXT 2 DAYS AS COLD AIR WILL BE SLOW TO MODERATE THRU THE
PERIOD. THINK IT WILL ONLY BE A FEW DEGREES HIGHER TODAY THAN IT
WAS WED...AND ABOUT 4 DEGREES HIGHER FRI THAN TODAY. MIN TEMPS
TNGT WILL BE TRICKY...WITH WIND BEING DECIDING FACTOR. WIND
SHELTERED AREAS OVER THE N WILL MOST LIKELY BE WELL BELOW ZERO...
WHILE WINDIER AREAS REMAIN IN SINGLE DIGITS TO LOWER TEENS ABOVE
ZERO. THESE TEMPS ARE ALL SOMEWHAT BELOW MOS VALUES...AS IT HAS
BEEN TOO FAST TO WARM THINGS UP.

THE WEAK LOW MOVING SE MAY BRUSH THE SRN AREA WITH MORE CLOUDS
AND A FEW SNOW SHOWERS TONIGHT AND FRI. KEPT IN A LOW POP THERE
TO HANDLE THAT. OTHER AREAS SHOULD GENERALLY REMAIN PARTLY CLOUDY
TONIGHT AND THU.

WILL REMAIN LOCALLY WINDY IN PAJN AREA WITH A WEAK MTN WAVE
LIKELY GOING ON. MODELS SUGGEST THIS SHOULD BREAK DOWN LATER
TODAY AS CROSS BARRIER FLOW WEAKENS LATE THIS MORNING. KEPT WIND
ADVY GOING UNTIL NOON TODAY FOR DOWNTOWN JUNEAU AND DOUGLAS TO
HANDLE THAT.

.LONG RANGE...STRONG ARCTIC HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM CENTERED OVER
THE CANADIAN ARCTIC COAST WILL CONTINUE TO COVER  MUCH OF THE
REGION WITH VERY COLD ARCTIC AIR FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY
BEFORE BEGINNING AN EAST DRIFT AWAY FROM THE REGION SATURDAY
NIGHT. LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPING OVER THE WESTERN GULF OF ALASKA
SATURDAY MORNING WILL SEND AN OCCLUDED FRONT EAST TO BECOME
NEARLY STATIONARY OVER THE EASTERN GULF OF ALASKA SATURDAY
NIGHT. MOISTURE AND PRECIPITATION FROM THIS SYSTEM WILL SPREAD
OVER THE EASTERN GULF COAST AND  SOUTHERN SOUTHEAST ALASKA DURING
SATURDAY AND OVER CENTRAL AND NORTHERN SOUTHEAST ALASKA SATURDAY
NIGHT. PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY.

HIGH PRESSURE REBUILDING OVER WESTERN CANADA WILL END
PRECIPITATION FOR A TIME OVER SOUTHERN SOUTHEAST ALASKA
SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY WHILE PRECIPITATION CONTINUES OVER
THE EASTERN GULF COAST...NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SOUTHEAST ALASKA
THROUGH MONDAY.

TEMPERATURES WILL BE MODERATING OVER THE WEEKEND INTO MONDAY.
THEREFORE PRECIPITATION STARTING OUT AS MOSTLY SNOW ON SATURDAY
AND SATURDAY NIGHT WILL BE MOSTLY MIXED RAIN AND SNOW BY
SUNDAY WTIH DAYTIME TEMPERATURES CLIMBING INTO THE 30S TO
NEAR 40.

MODELS FOR DAYS 6 AND 7 HAVE SHOWN VARIOUS  SOLUTIONS FROM
RUN TO RUN THEREFORE WILL MAINTAIN THE FORECAST FOR A LARGE
VERTICALLY STACKED LOW COVERING THE GULF OF ALASKA RESULTING
IN OCCASIONAL RAIN OR MIXED RAIN AND SNOW FOR SOUTHEAST ALASKA
AND THE EASTERN GULF COAST TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY.

.AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...HEAVY SNOW WARNING...ZONES 28 AND 29 ...WIND ADVY...ZONE
25 DOWNTOWN JUNEAU AND DOUGLAS ...WIND CHILL ADVY...ZONE 18 ABOVE
1500 FEET
MARINE...GALE...PKZ011>013-022-031-032 ...SCA...ALL REMAINING
WATERS ...HVY FRZG SPRAY...PKZ011>013-021-022-031-032

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Southern Inner Channels

When: March 16, 9:00 AM AST to 10:00 AM AST
Where: Southern Inner Channels forecast zone
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 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: 5494823.