Name: Blizzard in Alaska, March 30, 2006
Start: 2006-03-30T08:16
End: 2006-03-30T17:16
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

A low pressure center moved north over the eastern Bering Sea to Saint Lawrence Island and weakened.Blizzard conditions:Zone 211: reported by the NWS office in Nome.Zone 213: were likely, as reported by the Gambell AWOS and the Savoonga AWOS.

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 Mar 30, 4:42 AM AST, 3 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 30, 4:42 AM AST, 3 hours 34 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
442 AM AST THU MAR 30 2006

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS ARE SIMILAR IN SOLUTIONS. THE GFS AND ETA HAVE COME MORE IN
LINE WITH EACH OTHER THAN PREVIOUS 2 RUNS. CURRENT SATELLITE SHOWS
THE LOW MOVING UP TO NEAR NUNIVAK ISLAND. A MAJOR PORTION OF THE
ENERGY WILL BE SHEARED OFF AND ROUTED BACK DOWN SOUTHEAST WHICH IS
BEING STEERED BY THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE CURRENTLY IN PLACE.

THE OCCLUDING FRONT IS SENDING ITS ENERGY NORTHWARD ALONG THE WEST
COAST ZONES FOLLOWING THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE. AS THE OLD LOW IN THE
NORTHERN BERING SEA SLOWLY DISSIPATES THE NEW BERING SEA LOW ONLY
SLOWLY WEAKEN THROUGH LATE FRIDAY NIGHT. THIS STORM WILL HAVE ITS
CLASSIC IMPACT WHERE IT WILL SPREAD MUCH WARMER AIR ALL THE WAY
NORTH TO THE ARCTIC COAST WHILE TAPPING IN TO SOME COLDER AIR STILL
TRAPPED OVER MAINLAND FAR EAST RUSSIA AND PULLING IT IN BEHIND.

THE SURFACE HIGH OVER THE ARCTIC COAST HAS SLID OVER INTO CANADA.
THIS IS CAUSING THE PRESSURE GRADIENT TO RAPIDLY INCREASE OVER MOST
OF THE WEST COAST ZONES AND CAUSE BLOWING SNOW IN THOSE AREAS.

THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL TRANSITION EASTWARD OVER THE INTERIOR OF
THE STATE AND PROVIDE KATABATIC FLOW OVER THE CENTRAL INTERIOR
BEGINNING THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. THIS IS GOING TO BRING
THE NORTHERN PART OF ALASKA OUT OF THE BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES
THAT HAS OCCURRED FOR THE MONTH. SINCE THE SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL NOT
HAVE TROPICAL ORIGIN AND ONLY RECYCLED NORTHERN LATITUDE AIR SO
THE TEMPERATURES WILL ONLY MODERATE TO JUST ABOVE NORMAL.

THE SOMEWHAT SOUTHERLY FETCH WILL HAVE THE ADDED POTENTIAL OF
ENHANCING THE SNOWFALL OVER THE SOUTHERN SLOPES OF THE BROOKS RANGE
FROM THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ213-AKZ214.

BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY FOR AKZ211.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225-
PKZ230.
&&

CF MAR 06

Event by event

2 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: March 30, 8:16 AM AST to 5:16 PM AST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Blizzard, Srn Seward Peninsula Coast

When: March 30, 11:53 AM AST to 2:53 PM AST
Where: Srn Seward Peninsula Coast forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

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, 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: 5489699, 5489700.