An intense pressure gradient along with deep cold air and a low level jet streak produced a brief but intense period of high north wind in Valdez.
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.
The episode as NWS AFC wrote it up.
An intense pressure gradient along with deep cold air and a low level jet streak produced a brief but intense period of high north wind in Valdez.
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 Mar 5, 12:00 AM AKST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 AM AST MON MAR 5 2007
.DISCUSSION...WINDY TIMES TO CONTINUE ACROSS SOUTHERN ALASKA. AS AN
UPPER LEVEL LOW DRIFTS SOUTH INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA...COLD AIR WILL
FUNNEL SOUTHWARD. A SFC LOW CURRENTLY IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC WILL BE
DRAWN NORTH OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...THEN HANG OUT IN THE GULF
AS STEERING CURRENTS WILL BE RELATIVELY WEAK THANKS TO THE PERSISTENT
RIDGE OVER THE BERING. THIS LOW WILL BRING SNOW TO COASTAL LOCALS FOR
THE FIRST TIME IN NEARLY TWO WEEKS STARTING TUESDAY. THERE IS EVEN
THE CHANCE THAT ANCHORAGE COULD SEE SOME SNOW AS THE LOW TRACKS
TOWARD WESTERN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND LATE WED AND THU. THE EXTENT OF
DOWNSLOPING FOR MANY AREAS IS STILL IN QUESTION SO WE WILL REFRAIN
FROM GOING FOR MORE THAN A CHANCE OF SNOW AT THIS POINT.
FOR THE REST OF TODAY...WINDS WILL REMAIN STRONG...WITH GUSTS
EXCEEDING HIGH WIND CRITERIA IN THE MAT VALLEY THANKS TO THE
TIGHTENING GRADIENT DESPITE LITTLE SUPPORT FROM ALOFT. ALTHOUGH WINDS
WILL SLACKEN (MINIMALLY) BEGINNING TUESDAY...GUSTS WILL REMAIN STRONG
AND WHEN COMBINED WITH THE COLD TEMPS...WIND CHILLS OF DANGEROUS
LEVELS WILL PERSIST.
FURTHER WEST...THE HIGH OVER THE BERING WILL RETREAT WESTWARD WITH
TIME. AT THE SAME TIME...THE PRESSURE GRADIENT TIGHTENS AS THE LOW IN
THE GULF APPROACHES. WINDS WILL BE STRONGEST ON THE PACIFIC SIDE OF
THE AKPENN ESPECIALLY WED AND THU. AS FAR AS SENSIBLE WEATHER...A
LITTLE LIGHT SNOW IS POSSIBLE ALONG THE WEST COAST TUE NIGHT/WED AS A
PRONOUNCED SHORTWAVE DROPS SOUTH...OTHERWISE PRETTY BENIGN. A FRONT
TRIES TO APPROACH THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS OVER THE WEEKEND...BUT WITH
THE HIGH STILL HOLDING FIRM...WE ARE NOT TOO KEEN ON MUCH EASTWARD
PROGRESS OF THIS FEATURE.
.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING 111.
FLOOD WARNING 141.
MARINE...GALE 150 155 160 165 170 121 130 132 138 140 141.
HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY 150 160 165 120 121 125 129
130 132 138 140 141.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.
JCA MAR 071 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
DOT personnel in Thompson Pass reports wind gusts to 94 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, March 2007
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: 10715.