Name: Winter Storm in Alaska, April 3 to 5, 2008
Start: 2008-04-03T02:53
End: 2008-04-05T01:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 Low Pressure System moved northeast from the Central Bering Sea into Norton Sound and the Seward Peninsula. Southeasterly flow brought widespread snowfall and some freezing rain into the Western Interior of Alaska.

Zone 215: Based on precipitation amounts and estimated snowfall for Kaltag in Zone 216...heavy snow likely fell over the Nulato hills on the 3rd through the 4th...with some period of turning to rain and/or freezing rain. snowfall amounts of 7 to 9 inches are likely in the highest hills based on the estimate of 6.8 inches for Kaltag.

Zone 216: At Kaltag, situated at the base of the southeastern slopes of the Nulato Hills, snow began the morning of the 3rd...turning to rain on the evening of the 3rd through the morning of the 4th..then back to snow with occasional rain until ending 1am AST on the 5th. Initial snowfall total is estimated to be 6.8 inches based on a 1 to 7 ratio of measured precipitation at Kaltag. the nearby Nulato Hills likely received a total of 8 to 12 inches. While Co-op observers at the village of Galena reported only 1-2 inches, the villages of Ruby and Huslia received more precipitation most likely in the form of freezing rain.

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 2, 11:57 PM AKST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 2, 11:57 PM AKST, 2 hours 56 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
557 AM ADT THU APR 3 2008

.DISCUSSION...
MODEL INITIALIZATIONS SIMILAR...THE GFS AND ECMWF IN CLOSE
AGREEMENT IN THE SHORT TERM...THE NAM SEEMS TO BE THE
OUTLIER...SO LEANED TOWARD THE GFS AND EUROPEAN MODELS FOR
MORNING FORECAST PACKAGE.

MOST OF THE ACTION IS OCCURRING WITH A 987 MB BERING SEA LOW.
THIS LOW WILL CONTINUE TO TRACK NORTH AND BRING PLENTY OF
MOISTURE TO THE WEST COAST AND WESTERN INTERIOR FOR THE FIRST
THREE PERIODS. MOST OF THE WEST COAST ZONES ARE UNDER WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORIES OR WARNINGS. THERE ARE SOME IMPRESSIVE QPF
VALUES AND UNAVOIDABLE PRECIP PHASE CHANGES DUE TO PLENTY OF
WARM AIR ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE SYSTEM. MOST OF THE PRECIP
WILL BE FOCUSED ALONG THE NULATO HILLS AND THE SOUTHERN BROOKS
RANGE...SO THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES IN ZONES 215 AND 216
HAVE BEEN UPGRADED TO WARNINGS AND ZONES 217 218 AND 219 HAVE
BEEN ADDED TO THE ADVISORY LIST. ZONES 207 208 213 AND 221 ARE
BORDERLINE AND MAY NEED TO BE ADDED DURING THE DAY SHIFT.

THIS LOW WILL STALL OVER THE WESTERN NORTH SLOPE THIS WEEKEND
AND WILL WRAP AROUND SOME MUCH COLDER AIR FROM SIBERIA ALONG
THE WEST COAST AND INTO THE INTERIOR. A BUILDING RIDGE ALOFT
ALONG THE ALCAN BORDER SHOULD LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF COLD AIR
WORKING ITS WAY TO THE EASTERN INTERIOR...JUST HOW FAR EAST
THE COLD AIR SPREADS REMAINS TO BE SEEN.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY FOR AKZ225.

SNOW ADVISORY FOR AKZ217.

WINTER STORM WARNING FOR AKZ215-AKZ216.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ209-AKZ210-AKZ211-AKZ212-AKZ214-
AKZ218-AKZ219.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ225-PKZ230.
&&

KS APR 08

Event by event

2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Lower Yukon Valley

When: April 3, 2:53 AM AKST to April 4, 11:00 AM AKST
Where: Lower Yukon Valley forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

Winter Storm, Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys

When: April 3, 4:53 AM AKST to April 5, 1:00 AM AKST
Where: Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings 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: 82251, 82253.