Name: Blizzard in Alaska, March 8, 2006
Start: 2006-03-08T08:53
End: 2006-03-08T17:53
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.

A strong high pressure center over Siberia combined with strong low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska created a locally tight pressure gradient over the Northern Seward Peninsula, resulting in moderate westerly winds and likely blizzard conditions, as reported by the AWOS at Buckland and the ASOS at Deering.

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 8, 3:45 AM AST, 5 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 8, 3:45 AM AST, 5 hours 8 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
345 AM AST WED MAR 8 2006

.DISCUSSION...

ALOFT...AS MODELS PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED THE 500 MB LOW THAT WAS
OVER THE BERING SEA IS NOW SITUATED OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA. WEAK
RIDGING AHEAD OF THE LOW JUST EAST OF THE KAMCHATKA PENINSULA IS
EXPECTED TO AMPLIFY AS SHORT WAVE CURRENTLY OVER EASTERN ASIA
SLIDES EAST DIGGING THE LONG WAVE TROUGH SOUTHWARD. MODELS
INDICATE SEEMINGLY HARMLESS CLOSED LOW WELL SOUTH OF THE ALEUTIANS
TO GRADUALLY DEEPEN...BECOME AN OPEN WAVE AND BY FRI AFTERNOON IT
WILL BE LOCATED OVER THE ALEUTIANS.

SURFACE...994 MB LOW JUST EAST OF THE KAMCHATKA PENINSULA WILL
MEANDER SLOWLY EAST AND BE REJUVINATED BY DYNAMICS ALOFT. ANOTHER
LOW WELL SOUTH OF THE ALEUTIANS WILL TRACK NORTH INTO THE BERING
SEA BY SAT MORNING AND DEEPEN TO AROUND 974 MB. THIS SYSTEM IS
LOOKING LIKE A MAJOR WEATHER MAKER IN THE FORM OF A POSSIBLE
BLIZZARD OVER MUCH OF THE WEST COAST STARTING AS EARLY AS THURSDAY
NIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH THE WEEKEND. CURRENT GULF OF ALASKA
LOW WILL GRADUALLY FILL AND PUSH SOUTHWARD AS ARCTIC HIGH PRESSURE
BUILDS SOUTHWARD.

NORTH SLOPE...PERIODS OF LOW CLOUDS...FOG...AND LIGHT SNOW OR FLURRIES
WILL CONTINUE TODAY AS WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH AREA. CLOUDS
AND LIGHT SNOW WILL BE ON THE DECREASE THURSDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE
BUILDS INTO THE AREA.

WEST COAST...RELATIVELY QUITE FOR NOW...STILL HAVE PERSISTENT WIND
CHILL ISSUES IN BERING...SEWARD PENINSULA...KOTZEBUE SOUND...AND
CHUKCHI SEA COAST. MODELS ARE ADVERTISING POSSIBLE BLIZZARD
STARTING AS EARLY AS THURSDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH THE
WEEKEND OVER MUCH OF THE WEST COAST AS ARCTIC HIGH BUILDS INTO
CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR AND BERING SEA LOW DEVELOPS RESULTING
IN TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT.

INTERIOR...A FEW AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW PERSIST OVER THE INTERIOR...WITH
BEST CHANCE OF SNOW OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN INTERIOR AS MOISTURE
FROM GULF OF ALASKA LOW WRAPS AROUND. AREAS AROUND NORTHWAY WILL MOST
LIKELY SEE LIGHT SNOW. DELTA JUNCTION IS SEEING SOME LIGHT SNOW
NOW AND MAY SEE THE SNOW CONTINUE THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ209-AKZ210-AKZ213.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210.
&&

JHD MAR 06

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 8, 8:25 AM AST, 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
825 AM AST WED MAR 08 2006

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0800 AM     SNOW             1 S TOK                 63.29N 143.04W
03/08/2006  M7.5 INCH                           AK   PUBLIC

            TOK SPOTTER

&&

RT

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula

When: March 8, 8:53 AM AST to 5:53 PM AST
Where: Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula 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, 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: 5489694.