Name: Blizzard in Alaska, April 5 to 6, 2009
Start: 2009-04-05T19:56
End: 2009-04-06T12:16
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

A 988 mb low approximatly 500 miles south-southwest of Saint Lawrence Island at 4 pm on the 5th slowly tracked to the northeast and was about 250 miles southwest by 4 am on the 7th. The low brought blizzard conditions to parts of Saint Lawrence Island from the late evening hours on the 5th through the early afternoon hours on the 6th. The worst conditions were observed at Gambell where the visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. The wind at the Gambell AWOS was out of the northeast at sustained speeds of 30 to 40 mph with a peak wind gust of 47 mph/41 kt.

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 Apr 5, 12:49 PM AKST, 7 hours 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 5, 12:49 PM AKST, 7 hours 7 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
149 PM AKDT SUN APR 5 2009

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS VERY SIMILAR THROUGH 60 HOURS. EXCEPT THAT THE GFS DOES
KEEP THE BERING LOW A LITTLE DEEPER WITH TIME WHICH IS MORE
REASONABLE. UPPER LEVEL LOW MOVING ACROSS ARCTIC WILL SPILL COLDER
AIR INTO THE BERING LOW WHICH SHOULD SERVE TO DEEPEN IT OR AT
LEAST SLOW THE FILL TIME.

MODERATELY DEEP LOW IN THE BERING WILL PUSH SLOWLY EASTWARD. THIS
WILL DEEPEN THE TROUGH OVER THE BERING SEA AND AMPLIFY THE RIDGE
OVER THE INTERIOR AND PUSH SUBSTANTIALLY WARMER AIR UP INTO THE
CENTRAL INTERIOR.

WEST COAST WILL SEE INCREASED WINTER WEATHER ONCE AGAIN. ALTHOUGH
THIS SYSTEM IS NOT ONE OF THE MORE PROMINENT STORMS OF THE
SEASON...NONETHELESS IT WILL CREATE NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AND
SUBSTANTIAL SNOWFALL OVER THE SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND AREA. WINDS
WILL INCREASE OVER THIS AREA AND GUST TO GALE FORCE OVER NIGHT.
SNOWFALL IN SOME FORM OR FASHION WILL BE THE RULE ALONG NEARLY ALL
OF THE WEST COAST ZONES EXCEPT FOR NOT MUCH IN 216 AND 217.

ARCTIC COAST WILL REMAIN FAIRLY COLD AT THE SURFACE ALTHOUGH WILL
SEE SOME WARMING ALOFT THROUGH THE WEEK. THE UPPER LEVEL LOW IN
THE BERING WILL SLIDE EAST AND PULL COLDER AIR DOWN INTO MUCH OF
THE STATE BY THE END OF THE WEEK.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...NONE.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR AKZ213.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ214.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230.
&&

CF APR 09

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: April 5, 7:56 PM AKST to April 6, 12:16 PM AKST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2009 Every state in 2009 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, April 2009

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: 153409.