Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 19 to 25, 2008
Start: 2008-03-19T16:36
End: 2008-03-25T01:00
Location: Alaska

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.

Strong high pressure with a cold airmass over the North Slope and a moderate pressure gradient across this area and through Brooks Range passes created occasional Extreme Wind Chills during the 19th through 24th.|Lowest Wind Chills reported:|Zone 205 - The few reporting sites did not show low wind chills, but further south over the zone, and in passes, low wind chills were likely observed based on similar conditions in zone 206.|Zone 206 - Anaktuvuk Pass AWOS. Lowest Wind Chill -65 F; West Kuparuk Mesonet site -62 F.

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 Mar 19, 4:51 AM AKST, 11 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 4:51 AM AKST, 11 hours 45 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
1051 AM ADT WED MAR 19 2008

.DISCUSSION...

UPPER AIR...
UPPER LOW CENTERED OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN MAINLAND WILL MIGRATE
TO THE NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA BY MON. UPPER HIGH WILL DEVELOP
OVER EAST CENTRAL RUSSIA BY WED...MOVING TO NORTH OF WRANGEL ISLAND
BY SUN. ECMWF/GFS/GFS ENSEMBLE MEAN IN GENERALLY GOOD AGREEMENT
THROUGH SAT. FOR DAYS 4-7...A MEAN TROUGH POSITION IS LIKELY TO
PERSIST OVER THE NORTHERN ALASKA MAINLAND...WITH RIDGING OR A
BLOCKING HIGH OVER THE HIGH ARCTIC. 850 TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED
TO BE NORMAL TO A LITTLE BELOW NORMAL FOR NEXT 5-7 DAYS.

SURFACE...
LOW PRESSURE WILL PERSIST OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA THROUGH THE
NEXT 5-7 DAYS. A 1045 MB HIGH NORTHEAST OF WRANGEL ISLAND
WILL MOVE TO THE WESTERN BERING BY FRI...WITH RESIDUAL RIDGING
REMAINING OVER THE ARCTIC. HIGH PRESSURE CENTER EXPECTED TO
REBUILD OVER THE HIGH ARCTIC BY EARLY NEXT WEEK. MODERATE
SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL PERSIST OVER MUCH OF THE FORECAST
AREA FROM THE BROOKS RANGE SOUTHWARD THROUGH FRI.

SNOW AMOUNTS DURING IN THE INTERIOR FOR THE NEXT 5-7 DAYS ARE
EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT...MAINLY FLURRIES. LITTLE OR NO SNOWFALL
EXPECTED OVER THE WEST COAST AND ARCTIC.

OVER THE INTERIOR ARCTIC SLOPE...VERY COLD TEMPERATURES INTO
THE WEEKEND WITH LITTLE OR NO CLOUD COVER EXPECTED...AND LITTLE
IF ANY WARM ADVECTION ALOFT.

GFS CARRYING TOO MUCH RH BELOW 1 KM OVER THE ARCTIC COAST AND
INLAND...NAM CONSIDERABLY DRIER AND MORE REALISTIC.

MODELS NOT RESOLVING THE COLD-PRODUCED MESOSCALE HIGH/RIDGE OVER
THE INLAND ARCTIC SLOPE...RESULTING IN LIGHT SOUTHWEST WINDS AND VERY
COLD TEMPERATURES ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST EAST OF BARROW. WITH NO
WARMING INLAND EXPECTED SOON WHICH WOULD WEAKEN THE INTERIOR
MESO-HIGH...PERSISTENCE WILL CLEARLY BEAT THE MODEL SOLUTIONS HERE.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ210-AKZ213

WIND CHILL WARNING FOR AKZ205-AKZ206-AKZ217-AKZ218.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ220-PKZ225.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230.
&&

RF MAR 08

Event by event

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

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, N. Brooks Rng Colville Rvr W

When: March 19, 4:36 PM AKST to March 25, 1:00 AM AKST
Where: N. Brooks Rng Colville Rvr W forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

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

When: March 19, 4:36 PM AKST to March 25, 1:00 AM AKST
Where: N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 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: 83456, 83458.