Heavy over-running snowfall occurred for the Ketchikan area on 12/19 as a moderate strength low moved into the Queen Charlotte Islands.
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.
The episode as NWS AJK wrote it up.
Heavy over-running snowfall occurred for the Ketchikan area on 12/19 as a moderate strength low moved into the Queen Charlotte Islands.
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 Dec 18, 6:00 AM AKST, 18 hours earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION 1100 AM AST TUE DEC 18 2007 .SYNOPSIS... .SHORT RANGE...THE 1900 UTC SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATES SNOW SHOWERS ARE CLUSTERED OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE PANHANDLE MOVING NORTHWARD. SOME OF THE STRONGER SNOW SHOWERS HAVE BEEN MODERATE TO HEAVY BUT THE MOVEMENT IS NORTHWARD AROUND 20 KT SO THE DURATION IS SHORT. THE AREA OF MORE NUMEROUS SHOWERS IS ASSOCIATED WITH A MINOR TROUGH THAT IS ROTATING NORTHWARD AROUND A QUASI-STATIONARY UPPER LOW IN THE GULF OF ALASKA. SNOW SHOWERS SHOULD INCREASE IN THE CENTRAL PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON AS THE TROUGH MOVES NORTH BUT NOT AS MUCH AS IN THE SOUTH SINCE THE TROUGH IS WEAKENING. LATER TONIGHT ANOTHER WEAK TROUGH APPROACHES THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE SO EXPECT THE SNOW SHOWER FREQUENCY TO INCREASE AGAIN. THE UPPER LEVEL LOW IS PROGRESSING SLOWLY EASTWARD AND IS FINALLY PUSHED ONSHORE BY LATE WED. .LONG RANGE...CONTINUED COMPLICATED WEATHER PATTERN THROUGH THE LONG RANGE. VERY POOR RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY REMAINS AS WELL AS VERY LITTLE AGREEMENT BETWEEN EACH MODEL. GIVEN THIS LOW CONFIDENCE SCENARIO...WILL NOT ADJUST CURRENT FORECAST EXCEPT TO BLEND ALONG THE BORDER BETWEEN US AND ANCHORAGE. A TROUGH WILL SIT OVER THE PANHANDLE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND WEAKEN AS A RIDGE QUICKLY BUILDS OVER THE GULF. AS THE RIDGE PUSHES THE TROUGH EASTWARD SHOWERS WILL DISSIPATE BRIEFLY OVERNIGHT. HOWEVER...FLOW ONCE AGAIN RETURNS TO AN ONSHORE COMPONENT THURSDAY AFTERNOON. SEVERAL DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS BEGIN TO APPEAR THURSDAY AFTERNOON. MODELS DO AGREE WITH A COMPLICATED SET OF LOWS DUMBBELLING ABOUT AN UPPER LEVEL LOW FORMING IN WESTERN INTERIOR AK/BERING SEA. THE STRENGTH AND TIMING OF SURFACE FEATURES REVOLVING ABOUT THIS UPPER LOW IS THE TRICKY PART. THE ECMWF IS THE MOST AGGRESSIVE MODEL AND MOVES A STRONG LOW INTO THE NORTHERN GULF THURSDAY NIGHT. THE GFS WEAKENS THIS LOW IN FAVOR OF A MUCH SLOWER MOVING SYSTEM THAT ARRIVES INTO THE NORTHERN GULF SATURDAY AND BRINGS A LEADING FRONT INTO THE GULF FRIDAY EVENING. AM THINKING THAT THERE WILL LIKELY BE GALE FORCE WINDS AND WIND ADVISORY CONDITIONS ONCE A FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRONGEST OF THESE LOWS MAKES IT INTO THE EASTERN GULF/PANHANDLE. ADDITIONALLY...THERE WILL BE A STRONG LIKELIHOOD FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IN THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE WITH COLD AIR IN PLACE. HOWEVER...TIMING THESE FEATURES IS STILL UP IN THE AIR. WILL LEAVE CURRENT FORECAST AS IS RATHER THAN FLIP-FLOP WITH THE MODELS. THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVING THESE WAVES INTO THE GULF WEAKENS THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT AS A NEW CUT OFF UPPER LEVEL LOW DEVELOPS IN THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ON SATURDAY. LONG RANGE MODELS DO POINT AT A STRONG SURFACE LOW SLIDING TO THE NORTHEAST TOWARDS THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS ON SUNDAY NIGHT. BEHIND THIS...ANOTHER COMPLICATED UPPER LOW RAPIDLY FORMS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN GULF ON MONDAY NIGHT. THIS LOW QUICKLY TRACKS TOWARDS THE CENTRAL PANHANDLE TUESDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. WHILE THE MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THESE SYSTEMS...THE PROGRESSIVE NATURE AND THE RUN TO RUN INCONSISTENCIES KEEP CONFIDENCE LOW HERE. .AJK...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES PUBLIC...NONE MARINE...NONE
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous spotters reported 6 to 12 inches of new snow across the Ketchikan area on 12/19. This snowstorm required school closures and caused minor, temporary power outages to the Ketchikan area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2007
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: 71920.