Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 10 to 11, 2008

Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 10 to 11, 2008
Start: 2008-01-10T15:16
End: 2008-01-11T20:53
Location: Alaska

January 10 to 11, 2008 · NWS AFG · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

|Zone 204: Wind chills at least -60 F did not last a full three hours at Kaktovik.

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.

With an existing cold airmass covering the North Slope, a low pressure center formed near Mackenzie Bay on the 10th and created west winds at least 15 mph along the coast, and north winds through Anaktuvuk Pass, which produced extreme wind chills at:|Zone 203: Deadhorse ASOS coldest wind chill: -66 F (event began at 1216ADT).|Zone 206: Anaktuvuk Pass AWOS coldest wind chill: -65 F (event began at 1253ADT).|Zone 204: Wind chills at least -60 F did not last a full three hours at Kaktovik.

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 Jan 10, 8:57 AM AKST, 6 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 10, 8:57 AM AKST, 6 hours 19 minutes before

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Event by event

2 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R

When: January 10, 3:16 PM AKST to January 11, 3:16 PM AKST
Where: N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Central Beaufort Sea Coast

When: January 10, 3:53 PM AKST to January 11, 8:53 PM AKST
Where: Central Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, January 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: 71069, 71070.