A deep intense low moved into the Western Bering Sea while pushing a front across the western Aleutians. Strong wind in advance of this front occurred in the western Aleutians.
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.
A deep intense low moved into the Western Bering Sea while pushing a front across the western Aleutians. Strong wind in advance of this front occurred in the western Aleutians.
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 Dec 15, 5:00 AM AKST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 AM AKST MON DEC 15 2008
.MODEL DISCUSSION...
MODELS ARE GOOD AGREEMENT IN THE SHORT TERM OUT THROUGH 72 HOURS.
BEYOND THAT THE MODELS PART WAYS PARTICULARLY OUT WEST. THEY ARE
HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME WITH THE LOW COMING UP TO THE EASTERN
ALEUTIANS TUESDAY NIGHT. THE GFS MOVES THE LOW INTO BRISTOL BAY
FRIDAY THEN REDEVELOPS A WEAKER LOW IN THE NORTHERN GULF FRIDAY.
THIS GOES ALONG THE FAIRLY CLOSE WITH HPCS THINKING AND THEIR
GUIDANCE. EARLY FORECAST USED THE NAM/GFS WHILE MID TERM AND BEYOND
WITH WITH HPC GUIDANCE/GFS.
.ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...
THE UPPER AIR PATTERN HAS A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE OVER THE STATE AND A
DEEP LONG WAVE TROUGH TO THE WEST OVER THE KAMCHATKA PENINSULA. A
SHORT WAVE MOVING OVER THE WEST COAST THIS MORNING WILL RIDE THE TOP
OF THE RIDGE THROUGH THE INTERIOR TODAY. A FAIRLY STRONG COLD FRONT
ASSOCIATED WITH THIS WAVE HAS MOVED ONSHORE ALONG THE WEST COAST. AT
THE SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE IS CENTERED OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE
STATE EXTENDING INTO CANADA. HIGH PRESSURE IS ALSO LOCATED BEHIND THE
SURFACE FRONT CENTERED OVER THE BERING SEA.
.SHORT TERM FORECAST...
SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA...
CLEAR SKIES AND COLD TEMPERATURES PERSIST THIS MORNING OVER MOST OF
SOUTHCENTERAL. THE ANCHORAGE BOWL SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY EXCEPTION...
AREAS OF ADVISORY LEVEL FOG CONTINUE TO PERSIST THIS MORNING OVER THE
CITY. WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE UPPER TROUGH THIS AFTERNOON HOPEFULLY
WE WILL GET ENOUGH MIXING TO DISSIPATE THE FOG BUT THE POSSIBILITY OF
FOG RETURNING AGAIN TONIGHT ARE GOOD. THE UPPER TROUGH SHOULD SHEAR
APART AS IT MOVES INTO SOUTHCENTAL. SO EXPECT SKIES TO CLOUD UP TODAY
BUT CLEAR OUT AGAIN TONIGHT AS THE RIDE BUILD BACK IN. THE ONLY
PRECIPITATION EXPECTED WITH BE SNOW SHOWERS MAINLY ALONG THE NORTHERN
MOUNTAINS AND A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW FOR KODIAK.
SOUTHWEST ALASKA...
WITH THE APPROACHING FRONT SNOW HAS BEGUN TO FALL ALONG THE WEST
COAST AND THE DELTA WITH GUSTY SOUTHEAST WINDS ALONG THE WESTERN
CAPES. SNOW SHOULD TAPER THIS MORNING OVER THE DELTA GIVING WAY TO
DECREASING CLOUDS. AREAS OF SNOW WILL MOVE INTO THE KUSKOKWIM VALLEY
LATER THIS MORNING BUT SHOULD ALSO CUT OFF THIS EVENING AND SKIES
WILL CLEAR WITH THE HIGH BUILDING BACK IN. FOR BRISTOL BAY SNOW HAS
STARTED ALONG THE WEST COAST AND WILL SPREAD EAST DURING THE DAY AND
TAPER OFF QUICKLY THIS AFTERNOON FOLLOWED BY DECREASING CLOUDS. SNOW
AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT IN ALL ZONES. BASED ON THE GFS A
PUSH OF WARM AIR WITH THE NEXT SYSTEM MOVING INTO BRISTOL BAY TUESDAY
SHOULD BRING RAIN OR RAIN AND SNOW TO THE BRISTOL BAY COASTAL AREAS
AND AS IT MOVES NORTH ALONG THE COAST CHANGING TO ALL SNOW. THE
INTERIOR WILL STAY COLD AND DRY.
ALASKA PENINSULA/BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS...
HIGH PRESSURE IS QUICKLY BUILDING BACK OVER THE CENTRAL BERING AS THE
FRONT MOVES ONSHORE THIS MORNING BUT THE NEXT SYSTEM PUSHING UP FROM
THE SOUTH WILL KEEP THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS AND ALASKA PENINSULA IN
RAIN FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. FURTHER WEST A STRONG FRONT HAS
ENTERED THE WESTERN BERING/ALEUTIANS WITH STORM FORCE WINDS IN
ADVANCE OF THE FRONT. IT WILL WEAKEN QUICKLY AND BEGIN TO STALL AS IT
APPROACHES THE CENTRAL/EASTERN ALEUTIANS TUESDAY AND THE WINDS WILL
ALSO DROP OFF.
.LONG TERM FORECAST...
BY MID WEEK HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE STATE WILL DRIFT EAST INTO CANADA
WHILE A NORTH PACIFIC LOW INTENSIFIES A MOVES ALONG ALEUTIANS TO THE
ALASKA PENINSULA THEN INTO BRISTOL BAY BY THURSDAY NIGHT. AN UPPER
RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE BERING WILL SHIFT TO THE EAST OVER
THE WEEKEND AND DOMINATE THE STATE AND GULF OF ALASKA BY SUNDAY.
ANOTHER SHORTWAVE WILL ROTATE AROUND THE TOP OF THE RIDGE THROUGH
INTERIOR AND THEN INTO CANADA BY LATE MONDAY.
.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...STORMS 176.
GALES 150 155 160 175 180 185.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.
DEC 081 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Based upon observations from Shemya and the surface analysis, the wind is estimated to have gusted to 80 mph.
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: 137648.