Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 21, 2007

Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 21, 2007
Start: 2007-01-21T15:00
End: 2007-01-21T23:00
Location: Alaska

January 21, 2007 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

An approaching occlusion from the gulf of Alaska produced Heavy Snow over the crest area of the Eastern Alaska Range. 0 inches of snowfall during the event, which only lasted around 8 hours.

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.

An approaching occlusion from the gulf of Alaska produced Heavy Snow over the crest area of the Eastern Alaska Range. A spotter at Summit Lake reported 12.0 inches of snowfall during the event, which only lasted around 8 hours.

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 Jan 21, 8:28 AM AKST, 6 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 8:28 AM AKST, 6 hours 32 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
128 PM AST SUN JAN 21 2007

.DISCUSSION...RAPIDLY WEAKENING SURFACE/UPPER LOW MOVING
N FROM GULF AK INTO AK/YUKON. ASSOCIATED OCCLUDED FRONTAL
SYSTEM ALREADY ALOFT AND N OF AK RANGE WHILE MAIN SURFACE
LOW IS ABOUT 975 MB NEAR PAVD WHILE TRIPLE POINT LOW JUST
BEGINNING TO RE-ORGANIZE OVER YUKON AFTER HURDLING ST. ELIAS
MTNS. OLD VERTICALLY STACKED LOW OVER BRISTOL BAY IS FINALLY
NUDGING E ACROSS AK PEN. AIDED BY SHORT-WAVE DIGGING S OVER
CHUKCHI SEA.

MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT THROUGH SHORT AND MID-TERM...AND
12Z GFS IN BASIC AGREEMENT WITH 12Z ECMWF THROUGH 144 HOURS.
GULF AK LOW/REMNANT FRONTAL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE RAPIDLY
WEAKENING TONIGHT/MON BUT WILL BRING LIGHT SNOW AMOUNTS TO
MOST OF INTERIOR UNDER LIGHT SW FLOW WITH LOW-LEVEL COLD
ADVECTION...AND TROUGH AT 850/700 MB. TREK OF BRISTOL BAY
LOW MON NIGHT/TUE NW INTO GULF AK AND SE INTERIOR WILL ACT
TO FURTHER LOWER HEIGHTS OVER INTERIOR AND PULL EVEN COLDER
AIR EAST...MAINTAINING CLOUDS AND -SN OR FLURRIES OVER
INTERIOR THROUGH THEN. THE DIGGING SHORT-WAVE ALONG W-COAST
TODAY WILL FORM A CLOSED UPPER-LOW OVER SEWARD PEN. MON
THROUGH TUE. THIS WILL MAINTAIN COLD AIR OVER W COAST/WRN
INTERIOR...THOUGH MOISTURE LIMITED AND ONLY FLURRIES LIKELY
THERE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS BETWEEN
HIGH OVER CHUKOTKA AND BRISTOL BAY LOW WILL WEAKEN TOMORROW
AS THE LOW SHIFTS E. THUS BRISK WIND ADVISORIES MARINE ZONES
210/220/225 WILL END THEN. N SLOPE WILL REMAIN QUIESCENT
NEXT SEVERAL DAYS UNDER LIGHT FLOW ALOFT AND GENERAL LOW-LEVEL
N TO NE FLOW BRINGING JUST FLURRIES OR SOME -SN AIDED BY
REMNANT MOISTURE MOVING N FROM INTERIOR.

BOTH 12Z GFS AND ECMWF SHOW RAPID TRANSITION TO STRONG SRLY
CHINOOK FLOW BEGINNING FRI. THIS COULD BE BEGINNING OF WARMER
MORE ACTIVE PATTERN FOR W COAST STORMS AND AK RANGE CHINOOK
WIND EVENTS BY WEEKS-END.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225.
&&

MAR JAN 07

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: January 21, 3:00 PM AKST to 11:00 PM AKST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2007 Every state in 2007 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, January 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: 6001.