Heavy Snow, Denali
- When
- April 13, 6:00 PM AKST to April 14, 4:00 PM AKST
- Where
- Denali forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
Heavy Snow in Alaska, April 13 to 14, 2008
A strong upper level low near the Bering Strait brought a period of strong westerly flow aloft across the Western Alaska Range. The strong westerly flow aloft combined with a strong area of low pressure that tracked across interior Alaska to produce heavy snow from the evening of the 13th through the afternoon of the 14th.
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.
A strong upper level low near the Bering Strait brought a period of strong westerly flow aloft across the Western Alaska Range. The strong westerly flow aloft combined with a strong area of low pressure that tracked across interior Alaska to produce heavy snow from the evening of the 13th through the afternoon of the 14th. Summit Lake observed 17 inches of snow.
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 Apr 13, 9:07 AM AKST, 8 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 13, 9:07 AM AKST, 8 hours 53 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 307 PM ADT SUN APR 13 2008 .DISCUSSION... UPPER AIR... SHORT AND MEDIUM RANGE 500 MB PROGS ARE IN GENERALLY GOOD AGREEMENT. VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE SWEEPING EASTWARD ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA 00Z TUE THROUGH 00Z THU...DEEPENING AS IT MOVES EASTWARD. UPPER LOW NEAR CAPE SCHMIDT IN RUSSIA WILL MOVE TO NEAR DEMARCATION POINT BY 00Z WED. SECONDARY UPPER LOW DEVELOPING NEAR PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND BY 12Z WED AS THE SHORT WAVE DEEPENS. 850 MB TEMPERATURES REMAINING WELL BELOW NORMAL OVER THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH MOST OF THE WEEK...BUT WARMING OVER THE WEEKEND AS RIDGING ALOFT BUILDS. CONFIDENCE IN THE FORECAST OF THE BUILDING RIDGE OVER THE WEEKEND FORECAST IS GOOD WITH OPERATIONAL ECMWF/GFS AND ENSEMBLE MEAN AGREEING WELL OVER NORTHERN ALASKA...AND WITH RELATIVELY LOW SPREAD BETWEEN GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS. SURFACE... 990 MB LOW OVER OUTER NORTON SOUND MOVING NORTHEAST TO NEAR OLD CROW BY 00Z TUE...FILLING TO 992-994 MB. BY 00Z WED... THE LOW WILL WEAKEN SOUTH OF BANKS ISLAND. NEW LOW PRESSURE CENTERS DEVELOPING OVER THE EASTERN NORTH GULF COAST AND THE SOUTHERN YUKON TERRITORY 12Z THROUGH 00Z WED AS THE DEEPENING SHORT WAVE APPROACHES. ECMWF/NAM/GFS40 SOLUTIONS SIMILAR ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THESE LOW CENTERS. RIDGING WILL DEVELOP OVER THE WESTERN BERING SEA BY 12Z TUE...MOVING TO THE WESTERN INTERIOR BY 12Z WED. COMPLEX LOW OVER CENTRAL RUSSIA EXPECTED TO CONSOLIDATE INTO A SINGLE CENTER NEAR 69N/155E BY 12Z TUE... WEAKENING SOME AND MOVING TO THE CHUKCHI SEA BY 12Z WED. ECMWF/GFS/NAM POSITIONS OF THE LOW OVER THE CHUKCHI SEA ARE SIMILAR AT 12Z WED...ALTHOUGH THERE ARE DIFFERENCES IN THE CENTRAL PRESSURE. WILL DROP THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ214 ON THE AFTERNOON FORECAST SUITE...TEMPERATURES APPEAR TO BE MAXING OUT AT JUST BELOW FREEZING AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF MIXED PHASE PRECIPITATION APPEARS TO BE LOW. WINDS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE HIGH ENOUGH TO CREATE POOR VISIBILITY IN BLOWING SNOW...ESPECIALLY WITH NEAR FREEZING TEMPERATURES THE SNOW IS LIKELY TO BE WET. SNOW SPREADING ACROSS THE WESTERN INTERIOR AND WESTERN BROOKS RANGE TODAY...SPREADING TO MOST OF THE EASTERN INTERIOR AND EASTERN BROOKS RANGE BY 00Z TUE AS THE NORTON SOUND LOW MOVES NORTHEASTWARD. MUCH OF THE INTERIOR WILL EXPERIENCE BRISK WIND GUSTS AS THE LOW EXITS... WITH STRONG PRESSURE RISES AND SHARP COLD ADVECTION ENHANCING THE GUSTINESS. ADVISORY LEVEL SNOW AMOUNTS MAY OCCUR IN THE NULATO HILLS...SO WILL ALLOW THE SNOW ADVISORIES FOR AKZ215-AKZ216 TO RUN THROUGH 06Z MON. NEW SNOW ADVISORIES GOING UP FOR AKZ218-AKZ219-AKZ220- AKZ221-AKZ222-AKZ225. ANOTHER PERIOD OF SNOW LIKELY IN AKZ224-AKZ226 TUE NIGHT INTO WED MORNING AS LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS OVER THE EASTERN NORTH COAST...SETTING UP A STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT AND LOW LEVEL UPSLOPE FLOW. A SNOW ADVISORY OR WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED FOR THESE AREAS AS WE GET CLOSER IN TIME. CURRENT GFS SNOW QPF INDICATING MAXIMUM 36 HOUR AMOUNTS OF 2-6 INCHES IN AKZ224 AND 6-10 INCHES IN AKZ226. LOW VISIBILITIES POSSIBLE IN PASSES DUE TO BRISK WINDS AND SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL. NO REAL WARMUP IN TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED UNTIL LATE IN THE WEEK WHEN RIDGING ALOFT IS EXPECTED TO BUILD...LIFTING TEMPERATURES SOUTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE INTO THE MID TO UPPER 30S...WITH SOUTHERN INTERIOR AREAS LIFTING INTO THE 40S. && .FIRE WEATHER...NONE. && .HYDROLOGY...NONE. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SNOW ADVISORY FOR AKZ215-AKZ216-AKZ218-AKZ219-AKZ220-AKZ221- AKZ222-AKZ225. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ214. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210. && RF APR 08
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, April 2008
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: 88209.