Name: High Wind in Alaska, December 26, 2007
Start: 2007-12-26T21:30
End: 2007-12-26T22:30
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 low over the central Bering Sea and another low near Kodiak Island helped to produce strong winds over western Alaska. A weather front from the Bering Sea low moved north over Eastern Norton sound and briefly produced high winds at Unalakleet, where the AWOS reported a maximum gust of 53 knots (61 mph).

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 Dec 26, 8:42 AM AKST, 12 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 26, 8:42 AM AKST, 12 hours 48 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
142 PM AST WED DEC 26 2007

.DISCUSSION...FEATURE OF INTEREST FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS IS A
SURFACE LOW NOW NEAR THE TIP OF THE ALASKA PENINSULA AROUND 960MB.
THIS FEATURE IS ALREADY VERTICALLY STACKED AND OCCLUDED...WITH THE
JET UNDERNEATH IT BECOMING INCREASINGLY ZONAL. MOST OF THIS
FEATURES ENERGY WILL REMAIN SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA...BUT
ASSOCIATED REMNANTS WILL TAKE THE FORM OF A 980MB LOW NEAR SAINT
LAWRENCE ISLAND FRI AFTERNOON. THIS LOWS OCCLUDED FRONT WILL
EXTEND FROM THE LOW CENTER DOWN TOWARD SOUTHEAST ALASKA. THE LACK
OF ANY MERIDIONAL PUSH ALOFT MEANS THIS OCCLUSION WILL BE HINDERED
IN MAKING NORTHWARD PROGRESS...ONE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS IS THAT THE
PRECIP ASSOCIATED WIT THE FRONT WILL HANG BACK CLOSE TO THE FRONT
WHILE THE STRONGEST SURFACE WINDS WILL BE IN THE TIGHTER SEA LEVEL
PRESSURE GRADIENT NORTH OF THE FRONT. UPSHOT IS LOW LIKLIHOOD FOR
OVERLAP OF SNOWFALL AND STRONG WINDS...SO WE WILL NOT ISSUE ANY
BLIZZRD WATCHES FOR WEST COAST SOUTH OF BERING STRAIT AT THIS
TIME.

SEA LEVEL PRESSURE GRADIENTS WILL TIGHTEN ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA
OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. THIS MEANS THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY
OF LOW WIND CHILLS IN THE USUAL WINDY LOCATIONS. WORKING AGAINST
ANY SERIOUSLY LOW WIND CHILLS OCCURING...HOWEVER...IS THE
SYNOPTIC-SCALE WARM ADVECTION COMING ALONG WITH THE SURFACE LOW.
THE 850MB TEMPERATURE OF -23C ON FAIRBANKS MORNING RAOB IS LIKELY
THE COLDEST WE WILL HAVE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK.

NORTH SLOPE...SURFACE WINDS IN ZONES 203 AND 204 ARE COMPLICATED
AGAIN BY THE SUBTLE TROUGH SIGNAL RIGHT ALONG THE COAST. MODERATE
HIGH PRESSURE AT THE SURFACE REMAINS CENTERED ABOUT 500 MILES
NORTH OF BARROW AND WILL REMAIN A FACTOR FOR NEXT SEVERAL
DAYS...AND WILL PROVIDE EASTERLY WINDS FOR AREAS NOT AFFECTED BY
MINOR TROUGH IN ZONES 203/204.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING FOR PKZ210.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ225-PKZ225-PKZ230.
&&

ES DEC 07

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills

When: December 26, 9:30 PM AKST to 10:30 PM AKST
Where: Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills forecast zone
Measured: 53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS

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 2007 Every state in 2007 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, December 2007

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: 67369.