Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait
- When
- January 27, 8:36 PM AKST to January 28, 4:15 AM AKST
- Where
- St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS
Blizzard in Alaska, January 27 to 28, 2007
An occlusion movced north from the Alaska Peninsula on the evening of the 27th toward the north Bering Sea, causing increasing winds and blowing snow. Blizzard conditions likely occurred at Gambell, as reported by the AWOS there.
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 occlusion movced north from the Alaska Peninsula on the evening of the 27th toward the north Bering Sea, causing increasing winds and blowing snow. Blizzard conditions likely occurred at Gambell, as reported by the AWOS there.
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 27, 8:43 AM AKST, 11 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 8:43 AM AKST, 11 hours 53 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 143 PM AST SAT JAN 27 2007 .DISCUSSION... ALOFT... MODEL RUNS ARE SIMILAR ON HANDLING OF THE LARGE SCALE FEATURES THROUGH WEDNESDAY...ALTHOUGH THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENCES IN THE SMALLER DETAILS. SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL PERSIST THROUGH MONDAY WITH SEVERAL SMALL SCALE LOW AMPLITUDE RIDGES AND TROUGHS RAPIDLY MOVING THROUGH. A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE WILL BUILD TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...WITH THE RIDGE AXIS EXTENDING FROM THE EASTERN GULF OF ALASKA NORTHWESTWARD TO WRANGEL ISLAND BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 500 MB HEIGHTS WILL BE MUCH ABOVE NORMAL BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...WITH HEIGHT ANOMALIES UP TO 35-45 DAM OVER A SUBSTANTIAL PART OF THE FORECAST AREA. ABOVE FREEZING TEMPERATURES AT 850 MB WILL EXTEND OVER MUCH OF THE INTERIOR AND MAYBE EVEN NORTHWESTWARD TO THE NORTHWEST ARCTIC COAST BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THE STRONG UPPER RIDGING AND WARM TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY GENERATE DEEP AND STRONG INVERSIONS IN THE INTERIOR...AND THIS IS CLEARLY EVIDENCED IN THE PROG SOUNDINGS FROM THE GFS40 RUN. SURFACE... 970 MB LOW APPROACHING THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS WILL CURVE NORTHWESTWARD TO BE ABOUT HALFWAY BETWEEN SAINT MATTHEW ISLAND AND THE PRIBILOFS BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW SHOWERS AND N-NE WINDS TO 30-35 KT IN AKZ213 TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MAY COMBINE TO PRODUCE INTERMITTENT LOW VISIBILITIES IN BLOWING SNOW. WINDS WILL PROBABLY NOT BE STRONG ENOUGH TO PRODUCE SUSTAINED PERIODS OF POOR VISIBILITY...THUS A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY APPEARS ADEQUATE TO HANDLE THIS SCENARIO. SUB-ADVISORY GAP WINDS THROUGH WINDY AND ISABEL PASSES WILL LIKELY CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY...BUT ISOLATED 50+ MPH GUSTS MAY OCCUR IN THE MOST WIND PRONE AREAS NEAR THE NENANA RIVER CANYON. ANTLER CREEK RWIS CURRENTLY REPORTING GUSTS 50+ MPH. IN RESPONSE TO THE STRONG RIDGE BUILDING ALOFT...HIGH PRESSURE OVER EASTERN RUSSIA WILL BUILD AND MOVE EASTWARD INTO THE BEAUFORT SEA AND ARCTIC OCEAN THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE HIGH IS EXPECTED TO BUILD TO AROUND 1050 MB BY TUESDAY EVENING. THIS WILL PRODUCE A PRESSURE DIFFERENCE OF ALMOST 100 MB BETWEEN THE HIGH AND 950-955 MB STORM PROGGED TO MOVE NORTHEASTWARD INTO THE SOUTHERN BERING SEA. THIS WILL LIKELY GENERATE WIDESPREAD EASTERLY GALES OVER THE NORTHERN BERING SEA...CHUKCHI SEA... AND PARTS OF THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST. WINDS WILL APPROACH GALE FORCE OVER NORTON AND KOTZEBUE SOUNDS. THERE IS A GOOD LIKELIHOOD OF GROUND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS DEVELOPING OVER PARTS OF THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST TUESDAY NIGHT. WIND PRONE AREAS SUCH AS POINT LAY WILL BE PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ213. && JAN 07
Event by event
1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Blizzard
- Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Rip Current in Guam, January 27, 2007
- Lake-Effect Snow in Michigan, January 27 to 28, 2007
- Lake-Effect Snow in Michigan, January 27 to 28, 2007
- Lake-Effect Snow in Michigan, January 27 to 29, 2007
- Lake-Effect Snow in Michigan, January 27 to 28, 2007
- Lake-Effect Snow in Wisconsin, January 27 to 28, 2007
- Lake-Effect Snow in Indiana, January 27 to 29, 2007
- Marine Thunderstorm Wind in Gulf of Mexico, January 27, 2007
- Heavy Snow in Nevada, January 27 to 28, 2007
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 6872.