Flood in Alaska, May 28 to 29, 2006

Name: Flood in Alaska, May 28 to 29, 2006
Start: 2006-05-28T11:00
End: 2006-05-29T21:00
Location: Alaska

May 28 to 29, 2006 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $531,000
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 AFG wrote it up.

An ice jams formed 5-10 river miles downstream of the villages of Alakanuk and Emmonak on the Yukon River, causing moderate flooding at these villages. At Alakanuk, moderate flooding with water up to 3 feet in depth occurred, soaking some of the lowest portions of homes, causing large village fuel tanks to tilt, some ice chunks may have hit several buildings. The apron at the airport was partially flooded, though the airstrip remained dry. The sewage lagoon was flooded.At Emmonak, water levels rose to within inches of the need to shut down the village's power plant. Airport apron received water though the airstrip and tarmac remained dry. Moderate flooding occurred across the village.Monetary amount of damages was $227,000 in Emmonak and $306,100 in Alakanuk.

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 May 28, 1:54 AM AST, 9 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 1:54 AM AST, 9 hours 6 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
254 AM ADT SUN MAY 28 2006

.DISCUSSION...
CURRENTLY...RIDGE ALOFT EXTENDS ACROSS ALASKA FROM CLOSED HIGH
OVER KUSKOKWIM DELTA NORTHEAST TO MACKENZIE DELTA...WITH
ASSOCIATED SURFACE HIGHS SPRAWLED ACROSS THE BERING SEA...AND
SITTING OVER THE LOWER MACKENZIE RIVER VALLEY. TROUGH ALOFT
EXTENDING FROM NORTH POLAR VORTEX TO GULF OF ANADYR IN THE RUSSIAN
FAR EAST...WITH 990S MB SURFACE LOW 300 NM NORTH OF WRANGEL ISLAND
IN THE EAST SIBERIAN SEA. A WEAK WARM FRONT EXTENDS FROM THIS LOW
SOUTHEAST TO ICY CAPE VEERING WINDS FROM SOUTHEAST TO SOUTHWEST AS
IT CREEPS EAST TOWARD POINT BARROW. DOWN SOUTH...SURFACE TROUGH
LIES OVER NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA WITH SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT
PINCH EASING UP OVER THE ALASKA RANGE AS THE MORNING WEARS ON.

MODELS...NAM DOING A LITTLE BETTER JOB ON THE NORTH SLOPE...AND
HAVE EDGED THIS WAY FOR NOW. OTHERWISE REASONABLE CONSENSUS SWINGS
ANADYR SHORTWAVE EASTWARD ACROSS NORTH SLOPE THROUGH THE DAY TODAY
AND INTO CANADA BY MONDAY. NORTH POLAR VORTEX DIGS ANOTHER TROUGH
SOUTHWARD OVER THE GULF OF ANADYR LATE MONDAY AND CREEPS THIS EAST
TO THE SEWARD PENINSULA BY TUESDAY. TROUGH DIGGING ERODES
PERSISTENT RIDGE FROM THE NORTH...WITH RIDGE REMNANTS SQUASHED
DOWN SOUTH OF THE ALASKA RANGE BY LATE TUESDAY...AND BROAD MODEST
ZONAL TO SOUTHWEST FLOW ESTABLISHED NORTH OF THE ALASKA RANGE BY
MIDWEEK.

NORTH SLOPE...SHORTWAVE PULSE WILL MOVE FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS
THE SLOPE TODAY FOR ENHANCED CLOUDS...SPRINKLY PRECIPITATION...
AND WINDS VEERING TO THE WEST IN ITS WAKE. VERY WEAK LOW LEVEL
COOL ADVECTION WITH THIS...AND EXPECTING JUST A FEW DEGREES DROP
IN TEMPERATURE OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. MARINERS...WINDS
DROPPING BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA...SO WILL STRIKE BRISK WIND
PENNANTS THIS ROUND AND PADLOCK FLAG LOCKER FOR THE TIME BEING.

WEST COAST...PLENTIFUL SUNSHINE UNDER THE RIDGE ALOFT AND WITH
SURFACE HIGH OVER THE BERING SEA...WILL BE RUDELY INTERRUPTED BY
STRATUS AND FOG OUTBREAKS IN SOME COASTAL POINTS. WILL CONTINUE
DENSE FOG MENTIONS FOR SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND AND BERING
STRAIT...NORTON BAY AND NORTHERN NORTON SOUND...AND ALONG CHUKCHI
SEA COASTS...AS WEAK ONSHORE FLOW AND OVERHEAD SUBSIDENCE
PERSIST. LITTLE CHANGE TO TEMPERATURES OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF
DAYS. MARINERS...WINDS SUB ADVISORY THIS ROUND THROUGH THE WORK
WEEK...WITH SHUTDOWN FOGS THE CHIEF MARINE HAZARD.

INTERIOR...SUNSHINE CARDS PLAY ANOTHER HAND TODAY WITH GRADUAL
WARM UP OVER MOST SPOTS IN WAKE OF COOLISH BLAST YESTERDAY. WEAK
THERMAL LOW WILL DEVELOP LATE TODAY OVER YUKON FLATS...AND THIS
FEATURE WILL DEEPEN AND BROADEN IN COVERAGE ON MONDAY. SOME
ADDITIONAL MOISTURE ARRIVING IN WEST AND SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT BY
TUESDAY MAY INSPIRE SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS NEAR THE CANADA
BORDER WEST ALONG THE TANANA VALLEY...AND THESE WILL INCREASE IN
COVERAGE FOR THE DAY ON WEDNESDAY AS SHORTWAVES MOVE THROUGH ZONAL
FLOW ALOFT.

MEDIUM RANGE...TRANSITION TIME FROM RIDGE PATTERN TO TROUGH
PATTERN THIS WORK WEEK...WITH EMBEDDED SHORTWAVES SWEEPING
EASTWARD ACROSS THE NORTH SLOPE A COUPLE OF TIMES LEADING INTO
NEXT WEEKEND. ALL POINTS BASICALLY BECOMING COOLER AND
CLOUDIER...WITH SOME ENHANCED CHANCES FOR BELTS OF MORE ORGANIZED
MIXED PRECIPITATION ON THE NORTH SLOPE. GFS HAS ABANDONED ATTEMPT
TO BUILD RIDGE NORTHWARD INTO BERING SEA BY NEXT WEEKEND...AND HAS
FALLEN IN WITH EUROPEAN COLLEAGUES TO MAINTAIN WEAK ZONAL FLOW AND
EVENTUALLY TROUGHING INSTEAD.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...RED FLAGS HEADING FOR THE CLEANERS AS BROAD LIGHT
WIND REGIME OVERSPREADS NORTHERN ALASKA THROUGH MIDWEEK. WILL KEEP
EYE ON THERMAL TROUGH DEVELOPMENT SOUTH OF THE YUKON RIVER AND
NORTH OF THE ALASKA RANGE EARLY IN THE WORK WEEK...BUT NO
LIGHTNING EXPECTED WITH ANY SCATTERED SHOWERS THAT ARE SQUEEZED
OUT OF THIS FEATURE.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...ICE JAMMING IN YUKON DELTA STILL TRYING TO WORK
THROUGH TO THE SEA...BUT OTHERWISE NO HYDRO PROBLEMS EXPECTED.
SOUTH OF THE BROOKS...MOST RIVERS MOSTLY OPEN EXCEPT FOR A LITTLE
ICE AT THE MOUTH OF THE KOBUK RIVER. RIVERS NORTH OF THE BROOKS
RANGE REMAIN MOSTLY ICED UP. CONTINUED WARM WEATHER OVER WESTERN
INTERIOR BOOSTING SNOW MELT AND INPUTS TO MAINSTEM DRAINAGES...BUT
NO FLOODING ANTICIPATED THIS ROUND.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

FLOOD WARNING FOR AKZ214

FLOOD WATCH FOR AKZ214

&&

TS MAY 06

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Yukon Delta

When: May 28, 11:00 AM AST to May 29, 9:00 PM AST
Where: Yukon Delta County, Alakanuk
Property damage: $531,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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, May 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: 5512449.