Name: High Wind in Alaska, September 4 to 5, 2006
Start: 2006-09-04T22:00
End: 2006-09-05T01:00
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 AFC wrote it up.

A strong low moved into the northern Gulf of Alaska late Monday night. A rapidly building ridge of high pressure along the north Gulf Coast produced strong gusty northeast wind in the city of Cordova beginning around 11 pm ADT that lasted for around 2 hours. The wind peaked at 84 mph measured at the Cordova Harbor Master office.

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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 4, 3:00 PM AST, 7 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 4, 3:00 PM AST, 7 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
400 PM ADT MON SEP 4 2006

.DISCUSSION....

.UPPER AIR...RESIDENT CUT-OFF CENTER OVER THE GULF SHOULD HOLD STRONG
THROUGH WEDNESDAY. COMBINATION TROUGH DROPPING SOUTH OUT OF RUSSIA
AND CENTER RACING ACROSS THE ALEUTIANS SHOULD AMPLIFY BERING SEA
RIDGE AND KICK IT BRISTOL BAY BY EARLY THU. GULF CENTER IN TURN LOOKS
LIKE IT WILL FINALLY BE PRIED LOOSE FROM THE GULF AND MOVE INTO
WESTERN CANADA. CENTER MOVING ACROSS THE ALEUTIANS WED/THU WILL
REPLACE GULF CENTER BY THE WEEKEND. THIS ONE NOT LIKELY TO SETUP
HOUSE AS JET OVER POLE DISSOLVES AS WESTERLY JET SETS UP OVER THE
BERING SEA.

.EAST...LOW OVER THE EASTERN GULF WILL ROTATE AROUND STACKED CENTER
SOUTHEAST OF KODIAK AND SHOULD END UP NEAR THE KENAI PEN TONIGHT.
CENTER WILL THEN DRIFT TOWARD KODIAK AND DISSIPATE. EXPECT DESCENT
RAINS WITH THIS CENTER SPREADING TO THE GULF THIS AFTERNOON AND
INTERIOR SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA TONIGHT. NEXT CENTER TO AFFECT GULF WILL
MOVE AROUND BASE OF UPPER GULF TROUGH AND STRENGTHEN UNDER FAVORABLE
JET POSITION TUE. EXPECT CENTER TO BRING GALES AND RAIN TO MUCH OF
THE GULF TUE NIGHT AND WED. CENTER EVENTUALLY MOVES OUT OF THE GULF
AS UPPER TROUGH CLEARS.

STRATUS AND FLOW EVIDENT OVER SOUTHCENTRAL THIS MORNING WILL BE
REPLACED BY RAIN TONIGHT.

.WEST...STRATUS AND FOG EVIDENT AGAIN OVER COASTAL SW AK ZONES.
EXPECT REPEAT TONIGHT AS RIDGE HOLDS IN PLACE. MAY SEE LATE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ZONE 161 AGAIN TODAY. MORNING SOUNDING
INDICATE TRIGGER TEMP OF 61 NEEDED TODAY SEEMS REASONABLE AND LI
VALUES WOULD SUPPORT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY.

FRONT MOVING ACROSS THE BERING SEA YESTERDAY HAS WEAKENED
CONSIDERABLY WITH MAIN CHUNK OF ENERGY SHIFTING SOUTH OF THE ALEUTIAN
CHAIN. GFS/ECMWF MODELS HAVE NOW COME MORE IN AGREEMENT OF HANDLING
OF FORMER TYPHOON IOKE AS IT GOES EXTRA-TROPICAL. GFS MODEL THOUGH
HAS BACKED OFF ON PRESSURE SOME. EXPECT IT IS NOT FULLY ACCOUNTING
FOR LATENT HEAT RELEASE...SO FORECAST PRESSURE LIKELY TO BE ON THE
LIGHT SIDE. IN ANY CASE...EXPECT FAIRLY GOOD BLOW AS IT IMPACTS THE
ALEUTAIN ISLANDS AND AK PEN WED/THU.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...STORM 120. GALES 130 132 176. MANY UPCOMING IN THE WEST.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

RMC SEP 06

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Sern P.W. Snd

When: September 4, 10:00 PM AST to September 5, 1:00 AM AST
Where: Sern P.W. Snd forecast zone
Measured: 73 kt (84 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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, September 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: 5533221.