Winter Weather, Yukon Flats Nearby Uplands
- When
- February 9, 12:00 PM AKST to February 10, 11:59 PM AKST
- Where
- Yukon Flats Nearby Uplands forecast zone
- Reported by
- Newspaper
Winter Weather in Alaska, February 9 to 10, 2008
High pressure across the Arctic Ocean and low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska combined to produce locally strong east to northeast winds across portions of interior Alaska on the afternoon of the 9th through the evening of the 10th. Winds of 15 to 30 mph produced areas of blowing snow, and with temperatures between 20 and 30 below the wind chills were as low as 55 below.
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.
High pressure across the Arctic Ocean and low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska combined to produce locally strong east to northeast winds across portions of interior Alaska on the afternoon of the 9th through the evening of the 10th. Winds of 15 to 30 mph produced areas of blowing snow, and with temperatures between 20 and 30 below the wind chills were as low as 55 below. The 25th running of the Yukon Quest was delayed on its second day because the Steese Highway was closed by high winds and drifting snow at about mile 81.
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 Feb 9, 9:14 AM AKST, 2 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 9, 9:14 AM AKST, 2 hours 46 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 214 PM AST SAT FEB 9 2008 .DISCUSSION...THIS MORNINGS NAM MODEL ANALYSIS WAS CLOSER TO THE DATA THAN THE GSM ANALYSIS...WHICH INDICATED 500 MB HEIGHTS ON THE LOW SIDE OVER EASTERN AND CENTRAL ALASKA. THIS DIFFERENCE DID NOT RESULT IN ANY IMPORTANT DISAGREEMENT NEAR THE SURFACE. BOTH MODELS FORECAST THE LOW ALOFT NOW OVER THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR OF ALASKA TO SHIFT LOCATION TO THE WESTERN INTERIOR SUNDAY NIGHT AND TO THE EASTERN SEWARD PENINSULA ON MONDAY. THIS WILL RESULT IN AN END TO THE COLD SPELL STARTING MONDAY...AS WINDS ALOFT BECOME SOUTHERLY. THE CHANGE ON MONDAY WILL NOT BE DRASTIC...AS WOULD BE THE CASE WITH A BIG CHINOOK...BUT WILL BRING AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES ABOVE ZERO OVER MUCH OF THE INTERIOR AND WESTERN ALASKA. THE SEWARD PENINSULA AND YUKON DELTA COASTS WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE ABOVE ZERO READINGS IN THE AFTERNOON. AS WARMER AIR ALOFT FLOWS IN OVER THE EASTERN MAINLAND MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT THERE WILL BE A REAL INFLUX OF CLOUDS AND PROBABLY SOME LIGHT SNOWFALL DUE TO OVER RUNNING FROM THE SOUTH. TODAYS POLAR ORBITING SATELLITE IMAGERY ONLY SHOWS THIN CLOUD BANDS WELL TO THE SOUTH OF THE ALASKA RANGE...AND A FEW CLOUDS OVER THE YUKON DELTA AND OFFSHORE THE NORTON SOUND COAST. ASIDE FROM ISOLATED AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS NEAR THE COAST...THE ARCTIC IS LIKE THE INTERIOR...COMPLETELY CLEAR. THE WINDY AREAS IN THE SOUTHWEST INTERIOR AND THE DELTANA AND TANANA FLATS ZONES ARE BLURRED BY THE WIND...WHICH IS MOST PREVALENT OVER THE HIGH COUNTRY. INFRARED SURFACE TEMPERATURES OVER THE EASTERN AND NORTHERN INTERIOR WERE AS FAR DOWN AS 50 TO 53 BELOW DEGREES C THIS MORNING...AND HAVE SINCE COME UP TO -40 TO -45 C. THUS...THERE HAS NOT BEEN SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE JUST YET. HOWEVER...A GRADUAL PULLOUT FROM THE COLD WILL BEGIN MONDAY AND REALLY SET IN BY TUESDAY NIGHT. FROM THIS THERE IS NO INDICATION OF GOING BACK ANYTIME SOON. WIND CHILLS OVER MUCH OF NORTHERN ALASKA HAVE RETREATED BACK FROM THRESHOLD LEVELS SO MOST OF THE ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN CANCELED. FOR THE MOST PART TEMPERATURES HAVE COME UP JUST ENOUGH FOR THIS TO HAPPEN...AND AS TEMPERATURES FALL TONIGHT WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY BACK DOWN. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ223-AKZ224-AKZ226. WIND CHILL WARNING FOR AKZ201. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ219-AKZ220-AKZ221. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ200. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210. && TF FEB 08
Event by event
2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Winter Weather, Upr Tanana Vly Fortymile
- When
- February 9, 12:00 PM AKST to February 10, 11:59 PM AKST
- Where
- Upr Tanana Vly Fortymile forecast zone
- Reported by
- Newspaper
What these are
- Winter Weather
- Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Dense Fog in California, February 9 to 12, 2008
- Extreme Cold and Winter Weather in Minnesota, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Winter Weather in Vermont, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Winter Weather in New York, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Extreme Cold in North Dakota, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Extreme Cold in Minnesota, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Winter Weather in Wisconsin, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Extreme Cold in North Dakota, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Winter Weather in New York, February 9 to 10, 2008
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Michigan, February 9 to 11, 2008
- Cold in Minnesota, February 9 to 11, 2008
- Cold in Wisconsin, February 9 to 10, 2008
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 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: 72133, 72134.