Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 5 to 6, 2007

Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 5 to 6, 2007
Start: 2007-03-05T01:56
End: 2007-03-06T21:53
Location: Alaska

March 5 to 6, 2007 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Strong and cold high pressure of 1052 mb over the north Chukchi Sea on the 4th drifted east through the morning of the 5th across the North Slope of Alaska while a low pressure center moved north over eastern Russia. |Point Lay AWOS reported wind chill to -60 F with winds of 15 to 20 mph, and Wainwright ASOS reported wind chill to -69 F with winds of 20 to 28 mph during this time.

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.

Strong and cold high pressure of 1052 mb over the north Chukchi Sea on the 4th drifted east through the morning of the 5th across the North Slope of Alaska while a low pressure center moved north over eastern Russia. This created east winds of 20 to 30 mph over the Western Arctic coast creating dangerous wind chills.|Point Lay AWOS reported wind chill to -60 F with winds of 15 to 20 mph, and Wainwright ASOS reported wind chill to -69 F with winds of 20 to 28 mph during this time.

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 4, 9:27 AM AKST, 16 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 4, 9:27 AM AKST, 16 hours 29 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
227 PM AST SUN MAR 4 2007

.DISCUSSION...
ALOFT...LONGWAVE TROUGH OVER EASTERN ALASKA SOUTHWARD OVER
EASTERN PACIFIC AND RIDGE OVER FAR EAST RUSSIA PERSISTING. LOW
OVER SIBERIA WILL MOVE OVER RIDGETOP TUE THEN DROP SOUTH OVER
WESTERN AK WED AND MERGE WITH GULF OF ALASKA LOW ON THU.

SURFACE...1048 MB HIGH FROM BARROW NOOORTHWEST INTO CHUKCHI SEA
WILL MOVE TO BANKS ISLAND AND WESTERN CANADA TUE PM AND WEAKEN TO
1036 MB. LOW ABOUT 52 NORTH LATITUDE WILL MOVE TO CENTRAL
SOUTHEAST ALASKA AND DISSIPATE MON NIGHT BUT BEFORE THEN IT WILL
INCREASE PRESSURE GRADIENT OVER SOUTHERN HALF OF ALASKA SUN NIGHT
THROUGH MONDAY. DEVELOPING LOW OVER RUSSIA FAR EAST MOVING ACROSS
CENTRAL CHUKCHI SEA TUE REACHING WAINWRIGHT AT 1011 MB 12Z WED.

MODELS...IN GOOD AGREEMENT. IN MID-TERM BOTH U.S. AND ECMWF HANG
ONTO COLD PATTERN...IN ALMOST IDENTICAL FASHION OVER ALASKA AT
LEAST...THROUGH DAY 10.

NORTH SLOPE...ADVISORY WIND CHILLS HAVE DROPPED OFF OVER PASSES
OF 206 AND LIKELY NOT RETURNING SOON. SOME CLOUDS...CHANCE OF
SNOW...AND INCREASING SOUTHEAST WINDS FOR WEST HALF TUE WITH
INCOMING LOW FROM RUSSIA. OTHERWISE QUIET.

WESTERN ALASKA...ADVISORY WIND CHILLS HAVE DRIOPPED OFF DURING THE
DAY. NORTHERN ZONE 210 MAY HANG ONTO CHILLS INTO EVENING WITH
PERSISTANT BUT LOCAL WEST WIND. INCOMING LOW FROM RUSSIA BRINGING
BRISK SOUTHEAST WINDS OVER WESTERN MARINE AREAS 220 AND 225 MONDAY
BUT A LESSER INCREASE IN WIND OCCURRING OVER LAND AREAS MONDAY
THROUGH TUE...AS WELL AS SOME CLOUDS AND A CHANCE OF SNOW OVER
NORTHERN COASTAL ZONES AS WELL AS ZONE 213.

CENTRAL/EASTERN INTERIOR...INCREASING WINDS THROUGH ALASKA RANGE
PASSES AND HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF ZONES 220-222 TONIGHT AND MONDAY
WILL RESULT IN ADVISORY WIND CHILLS. PATCHY CLOUDS AND FLURRIES
NEAR WESTERN ALASKA RANGE MAY LINGER INTO MONDAY...BUT MORE
CLOUDS ARE LIKELY TUE AND TUE NIGHT OVER ZONES 224 AND 226 FROM
WRAPAROUND MOISTURE OF LOW DYING OVER SOUTHEAST ALASKA.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ210-AKZ220-AKZ221-AKZ222-AKZ225-
AKZ226.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ220-PKZ225.
&&

JL MAR 07

Event by event

1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Western Arctic Coast

When: March 5, 1:56 AM AKST to March 6, 9:53 PM AKST
Where: Western Arctic Coast forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

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, 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: 12263.