Name: Blizzard in Alaska, March 29, 2007
Start: 2007-03-29T15:16
End: 2007-03-29T22:56
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.

An occlusion moving northeast over the Bering Sea brought strong winds and blizzard conditions to portions of the Bering Strait Coast and Saint Lawrence Island. Blizzard conditions were likely at Savoonga, as reported by the AWOS there. Peak wind gusts briefly reached 59 mph, just 1 mph short of warning criteria.

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 Mar 29, 8:58 AM AKST, 6 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 29, 8:58 AM AKST, 6 hours 18 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
258 PM ADT THU MAR 29 2007

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS INITIALIZE WELL AND SHOW SIMILAR SOLUTIONS AS RIDGE ALOFT
BUILDS OVER MAINLAND ALASKA THROUGH SATURDAY. ONLY REAL
DIFFERENCE IS NAM BUILDING THIS RIDGE A BIT STRONGER ON SAT, BUT
WE PREFERRED THE GFS AND ECMF SOLUTION WHICH HAS SLIGHTLY LOWER
500 MB HEIGHTS. THE GFS HAS BIT COOLER TEMPS AS A RESULT.

A WEAKENING OCCLUDED FRONT NOW ALONG THE WEST COAST WILL MOVE TO
BARROW TO ATIGUN PASS BY 4AM FRI AND THEN DISSIPATE NORTH OF THE
ARCTIC COAST FRI PM. WILL SEE FLURRIES ALONG THIS FRONT WITH
CLEARING TO THE SOUTHWEST OF IT.

A STRONGER FRONT NOW IN THE SOUTHERN BERING WILL MOVE TO THE
NORTHERN BERING BY 4AM FRI...TO THE BERING STRAIT TO YUKON DELTA
BY 4PM FRI...AND THEN ALONG THE WEST COAST OF ALASKA SAT. WILL SEE
SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW WITH THIS FRONT AND SOUTHEAST WINDS 25-35KT.
THIS WILL CAUSE BLOWING SNOW. HIGHEST SNOW AMOUNTS WITH BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS POSSIBLE IN ZONE 213 STARTING ABOUT 4AM. TEMPERATURES
ZONES 213 MAY BE TOO WARM SO ARE LEAVING THIS AS A WATCH FOR NOW.

MAY SEE SOUTH WINDS TO 40KT SAT BEHIND THIS FRONT OVER ZONE 213 AS
THE POISONOUS TAIL MOVES OVER THAT AREA. THIS COULD PRODUCE
ANOTHER BLIZ BUT WILL WAIT TO SEE MORE ON THIS.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
BLIZZARD WATCH FOR AKZ213.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225.
&&

JB MAR 07

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: March 29, 3:16 PM AKST to 10:56 PM AKST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2007 Every state in 2007 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 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: 13881.