Blizzard in Alaska, January 8 to 9, 2007

Name: Blizzard in Alaska, January 8 to 9, 2007
Start: 2007-01-08T19:00
End: 2007-01-09T04:00
Location: Alaska

January 8 to 9, 2007 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Strong northerly winds through Thompson Pass created a ground blizzard that dropped visibilities to near zero.

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.

Strong northerly winds through Thompson Pass created a ground blizzard that dropped visibilities to near zero.

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 Jan 8, 10:00 AM AKST, 9 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 8, 10:00 AM AKST, 9 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
300 PM AST MON JAN 8 2007

.DISCUSSION...
MAJOR PATTERN CHANGE UNFOLDING THIS WEEK. AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF
TROPICAL-EXTRA TROPICAL INTERACTION. AN AREA OF ENHANCED CONVECTION
(THE MJO OR MADDEN-JULIAN OSCILLATION) THAT HAS BEEN OVER THE INDIAN
OCEAN FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS IS MOVING INTO THE WESTERN
PACIFIC OCEAN. THE SUBTROPICAL JET STREAM TAPPING THIS MOISTURE IS
ALSO MOVING EAST AND FORCING A DEEP LOW OVER THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC
AND WESTERN BERING SEA AS THE POLAR JET COMBINES WITH IT NEAR JAPAN.
THIS CONSOLIDATED JET IS PUSHING STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT
TOWARD THE ALEUTIANS...AND BY LATER THIS WEEK INTO MAINLAND ALASKA.

IN THE SHORTER TERM...THE PESKY LOW OVER THE NORTHERN GULF WILL
FINALLY BE PUSHED TO THE SOUTHEAST TONIGHT AND TUESDAY AS A SHORT
WAVE RIDGE MOVES OVER SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA. STRONG
NORTH TO NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL COMBINE WITH COLD TEMPERATURES
TO CREATE VERY COLD WIND CHILLS IN SOME AREAS INTO TUESDAY (SEE
APPROPRIATE ADVISORIES FOR MORE INFO ON THIS). THE RIDGE AXIS WILL
BE OVER THE MAINLAND ON WEDNESDAY...AND THEN MOST OF THE STATE WILL
TRANSITION TO THE WARM (WEST) SIDE OF THE RIDGE BY THURSDAY
AFTERNOON...AS THE PATTERN CHANGE MENTIONED ABOVE REACHES ITS FINAL
STATE. TEMPERATURES WILL GO FROM WELL BELOW NORMAL EARLY THIS WEEK
TO ABOVE NORMAL IN MOST AREAS BY THE END OF THE WEEK.

LOOKING OUT TOWARD NEXT WEEK...LOOKS LIKE THE MEAN TROUGH POSITION
WILL SETTLE IN OVER THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND WESTERN BERING SEA.
THIS WILL KEEP ALASKA IN RATHER MILD SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING 187.
         BLIZZARD WATCH 155.
MARINE...STORM WARNING 155 170 172.
         GALE WARNING 150 160 165 170 171 175 176 179 180 185.
      HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING 120 121 129 130 132 138 150 160.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

LUDWIG JAN 07

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Nern P.W. Snd

When: January 8, 7:00 PM AKST to January 9, 4:00 AM AKST
Where: Nern P.W. Snd forecast zone
Reported by: NWS Employee

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

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: 6513.