Very unstable atmospheric conditions in southwest Alaska produced severe thunderstorms in the Bethel area the evening of July 5th.
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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.
Very unstable atmospheric conditions in southwest Alaska produced severe thunderstorms in the Bethel area the evening of July 5th.
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 Jul 5, 12:00 PM AKST, 7 hours 19 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA 100 PM AKDT SAT JUL 5 2008 .MODEL DISCUSSION... MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT IN THE SHORT TERM. MAIN ISSUE IS THE MID RANGE. GFS HAS BEEN VERY CONSISTENT BUT IS THE OUTLIER. SINCE THIS IS TYPICALLY ITS GLITCH PERIOD WILL LEAN MORE TOWARD THE EC FOR NOW FOR THE UPCOMING SIBERIAN LOW THAT DROPS INTO THE BERING. .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... A LOW SOUTH OF SAND POINT CONTINUES TO BRING MORE RAIN TO KODIAK AND INTO THE AK PENN. A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE ACROSS THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE WEEKEND. FOR NOW ITS BIGGEST IMPACT IS THE SHORTWAVES CIRCULATING AROUND IT. ONE IS CURRENTLY OVER THE SUSITNA VALLEY AND MOVING WEST BRINGING SHOWERS AND INSTABILITY IN ITS WAKE AS IT CLEARS OUT THIS AFTERNOON. ANOTHER WAVE WILL MOVE IN FROM THE YUKON THIS AFTERNOON AND RIDE ALONG THE THERMAL TROUGH THAT IS SETTING UP ALONG THE ALASKA RANGE. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO POP ALONG THE ALASKA RANGE NORTH OF THE COPPER RIVER VALLEY AND INTO THE Y-K DELTA NEAR THE KUSKOKWIM BAY. .SHORT TERM FORECAST... SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA... NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED FROM THE COPPER RIVER BASIN...STRETCHING ALONG THE ALASKA RANGE TO THE KUSKOKWIM DELTA AND AS FAR SOUTH AS THE ANCHORAGE BOWL. STABILITY INDICES ARE CERTAINLY SUFFICIENT FOR STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...WITH A LACK OF STRONG SHEAR THE ONLY DETERRING FACTOR TO A FEW POTENTIALLY SEVERE STORMS. CAPES ARE FORECAST UP TO 1500 J/KG IN THE KUSKOKWIM AND SUSITNA VALLEYS WITH LI NEAR -7 C. YET ANOTHER WAVE TAKES A SIMILAR PATH ON SUNDAY...BUT WITH PLENTY OF CONVECTIVE DEBRIS HANGING AROUND...A MORE STABLE, STRATIFORM RAIN EVENT MAY TAKE SHAPE FOR MUCH OF SOUTHCENTRAL. FEWER THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY WILL BE DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE THERMAL TROUGH WILL BE PUSHED FURTHER NORTH. THE EXCEPTION WILL BE FOUND IN SOUTHWEST AK FROM THE KUSKOKWIM VALLEY TO THE Y-K DELTA AND BRISTOL BAY WHERE THE FRONT WILL REMAIN FIRMLY ENTRENCHED FOR ONE MORE DAY. BERING SEA...NORTHERLY FLOW WILL DOMINATE THE BERING BEHIND THE DEPARTING LOW. SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE ALONG THE BERING SIDE OF THE AKPENN AND EASTERN ALEUTIANS WITH THE EVER PRESENT FOG MAINTAINING ITS GRASP ON THE AREA. HIGH PRESSURE IN THE WESTERN BERING BUILDS INTO THE CENTRAL BERING AHEAD OF A STRONG FRONT POISED TO DROP SOUTH ON TUESDAY. EXTENDED...THE LOW IN THE SOUTHERN GULF BECOMES VERTICALLY STACKED BY MONDAY AND THUS WILL BE A SLOW MOVER. THIS MEANS PERIODIC WAVES APPROACHING SOUTHCENTRAL FROM THE EAST PROMPTING SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWER ACTIVITY. BY MID-WEEK...THE MAINLAND SEES RIDGING IN-BETWEEN THE DEPARTING LOW IN THE YUKON AND A STRONG LOW DROPPING INTO THE CENTRAL BERING. MODELS HAVE BEEN MORE CONSISTENT OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF RUNS DROPPING THE LOW INTO THE CENTRAL BERING BRINGING PLENTY OF RAIN...WIND AND COOLER TEMPS. QUESTIONS ARISE BY WEEKS END AS TO IF THE LOW DROPS SOUTH OF THE ALEUTIAN CHAIN OR DRIFT EAST. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...NONE. MARINE...NONE FIRE WEATHER...NONE. RW JUN 08
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Kipnuk observed gusts to 55 mph. Estimated wind gusts to exceed 50 KT.
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, July 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: 100401.