A strong occluded front brought a period of blizzard conditions to Kotzebue. The wind frequently gusted to 45 mph and the visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow.
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 AFG wrote it up.
A strong occluded front brought a period of blizzard conditions to Kotzebue. The wind frequently gusted to 45 mph and the visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow.
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 Dec 12, 4:18 AM AKST, 4 hours 32 minutes earlier.
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 418 AM AKST FRI DEC 12 2008 .DISCUSSION... THE MOST ACTIVE WEATHER IN THE SHORT TERM WILL BE ALONG THE WEST COAST AS WELL AS THE ARCTIC COAST FROM BARROW WEST. WEST COAST...A 988 MB LOW JUST WEST OF GULF OF ANADYR WILL CONTINUE TO WEAKEN TODAY. THE OCCLUDED FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW WILL PUSH TO THE BERING STRAIT AND Y-K DELTA THIS MORNING AND WILL RAPIDLY WEAKEN THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS IT PUSHES EAST INTO A RIDGE ACROSS THE WESTERN INTERIOR. MOST OF THE WEST COAST ZONES WILL PICK UP 2 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW TODAY. THE SNOW IS NOW ENDING ACROSS SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND AND WILL TAPER BACK TO FLURRIES AND SNOW SHOWERS ALONG THE COAST TODAY AS THE FRONT PUSHES INLAND. A DEEP CLOSED LOW IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN ACROSS CENTRAL RUSSIA THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WITH A FAST JET UNDERNEATH THAT WILL STRETCH FROM EAST ASIA INTO EASTERN RUSSIA. THIS WILL ALLOW ADDITIONAL SYSTEMS TO PASS TO THE WEST OF THE STATE AND WILL KEEP A MODERATE TO STRONG SW FLOW ALONG THE WEST COAST WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONG WINDS AND LOCAL BLOWING SNOW AT TIMES. A SYSTEM LATE IN THE WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK MAY SEND ANOTHER OCCLUSION ACROSS THE WEST COAST WITH MORE SNOW...AND POSSIBLY SOME LIQUID PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST ZONES. TEMPERATURES WILL BE WELL ABOVE AVERAGE THIS WEEKEND. INTERIOR...RELATIVELY QUIET WEATHER EXPECTED FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. A WEAK MID LEVEL TROUGH ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN INTERIOR THIS MORNING WILL LIFT OUT TODAY AS AN UPPER RIDGE BUILDS IN FROM THE WEST. THERE IS STILL SOME SEMBLANCE OF A TROUGH AT LOWER LEVELS WHICH MAY KEEP SOME CLOUDS AROUND...BUT THE GENERAL TREND TODAY SHOULD BE FOR DECREASING CLOUDS. THE WEST COAST OCCLUSION WILL BARELY LIMP INTO THE WESTERN INTERIOR THIS EVENING AS IT BECOMES RAGGED AND DISSIPATES TONIGHT. THIS MAY PRODUCE A LITTLE LIGHT SNOW OR FLURRIES IN PARTS OF THE WESTERN INTERIOR THIS EVENING. A LARGE UPPER RIDGE THEN EXPANDS ACROSS THE INTERIOR THIS WEEKEND WITH SOME MILD AIR ALOFT. BOTH THE NAM AND GFS HAVE 850 MB TEMPS UP TO AROUND 0C BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT FAIRBANKS. THIS WILL SET UP SOME VERY STRONG INVERSIONS OVER THE WEEKEND WITH TEMPERATURES LIKELY TO CLIMB INTO THE 20S AND PERHAPS EVEN CLOSE TO FREEZING ON THE HILLS...BUT WILL LIKELY STRUGGLE TO GET MUCH ABOVE ZERO IN THE VALLEYS. NORTH SLOPE...THE BERING FRONT WILL PUSH EAST TO THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST TODAY WITH SOME LIGHT SNOW AND AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW. AS THE UPPER RIDGE AMPLIFIES ACROSS THE INTERIOR THIS WEEKEND IT WILL BRING A MUCH MILDER REGIME TO THE ARCTIC COAST WITH SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST LOW LEVEL FLOW...AND PERHAPS ENOUGH WIND FOR SOME BLOWING SNOW ISSUES. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ211-AKZ213-AKZ214. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ225-PKZ230-PKZ235. && CB DEC 08
1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
A strong occluded front brought a period of blizzard conditions to Kotzebue. The wind frequently gusted to 45 mph and the visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2008
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: 137403.