Cold northerly flow on the backside of a low pressure system over the central Aleutians produced gusty winds to 60 mph. Combined with fresh snowfall the winds produced blizzard conditions across 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.
Cold northerly flow on the backside of a low pressure system over the central Aleutians produced gusty winds to 60 mph. Combined with fresh snowfall the winds produced blizzard conditions across 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 Mar 14, 7:45 AM AKST, 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA 145 PM ADT FRI MAR 14 2008 .MODEL DISCUSSION...ALL IN RATHER SPLENDID AGREEMENT. .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...A TYPICAL MARCH PATTERN IS UPON US WITH A LARGE ALEUTIAN LOW 175 NM SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF ATKA GIVING AN AREA OF HEAVY WIND AND RAIN EASTERN ALEUTIANS AND ALASKA PENINSULA. DUTCH HARBOR OBSERVED A PREFRONTAL WIND GUST OF 57 MPH THIS MORNING AND 43 OR 45 MPH AT COLD BAY. UP NORTH ABOVE FREEZING TEMPS HAVE KILLED THE BLOWING SNOW AT ST GEORGE. ST PAUL, AT 30 DEGREES, STILL HAS VISIBILITIES IN THE 1/2 TO 1 MILE RANGE. WILL NOT RUSH TO END THE WARNING SINCE ANOTHER PRECIP BAND ASOCD WITH THE FRONT IS ABOUT TO MOVE ACROSS THE REGION. BLIZZARD WARNING ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE STORM LOOKS TO BE A SUCCESS WITH PASY OBSERVING 40 TO 65 MPH WINDS WITH A 1/2 MILE VSBY. POSSIBLE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THIS EVENING ACROSS NUNIVAK ISLAND AND ALONG THE KUSKO DELTA CST. WITH THE CURRENT WINDS AND LOW TEMPS 1 INCH OF SNOW WOULD BE ENUF FOR A WHITE OUT. SINCE BLOWING OR EVEN DRIFTING SNOW WAS NOT MENTIONED IN THE FORECAST FROM THE PREVIOUS SHIFT. HAVE ADDED SOME BLSN AND REDUCED VSBYS INTO THE AMENDED ZONE FORECAST AND WILL LET THE NEXT SHIFT DEAL WITH AN ADVISORY OR WARNING. SNOW SHOULD CHANGE TO RAIN AND FOG PRIBILOFS TONIGHT THEN GO BACK TO MORE SNOW SHOWERS AS COLD NORTH WINDS SWEEP BACK IN SATURDAY NIGHT. AS LOW CENTER MOVES TO SAND POINT SUNDAY AFTERNOON THIS PATTERN WILL COVER ALL OF THE BERING AND ALEUTIANS LATE SATURDAY AND CONTINUE FOR THE NXT 5 DAYS. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY CONDS WILL COVER MOST AREA AS WELL. EAST SIDE FORECASTS LOOK GOOD BUT WITH THE USUAL TIMING QUESTIONS. SNOW MIXING WITH RAIN FOR KODIAK TONIGHT WITH NO MORE THAN TWO INCHES BELOW 500 FT WITH MUCH HEAVIER AMOUNTS ABOVE. CLOUDS WIND AND SNOW INCREASE FROM THE SOUTHWEST WITH FULL GALES NORTH GULF COAST ON SAT WITH THE CHANCE OF A SHORT DURATION STORM JUST IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT. AT THIS POINT IT LOOKS AS IF PRECIPITATION WILL STAY AS SNOW EVEN ALONG THE COAST WITH CORDOVA RIGHT ON THE RAIN SNOW EDGE LATE SAT AFTERNOON. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...BLIZZARD WESTERN ALEUTIANS, PRIBILOFS AND POSSIBLY THE COAST OF 155. MARINE...GALE 120 130 132 150 155 160 165 180 170 171 172 175 176 185. PERCY MAR 08
1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Wind gusts to 60 mph caused areas of blowing snow to frequently reduce visibilities to a quarter mile or less across the Western Aleutians.
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, March 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: 77189.