The Tazlina and Nelchina glacial dam lakes release beginning August 25th. The subsequent rises in water levels produced flooding along the Tazlina River near the Richardson Highway on the 30th.
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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.
The Tazlina and Nelchina glacial dam lakes release beginning August 25th. The subsequent rises in water levels produced flooding along the Tazlina River near the Richardson Highway on the 30th.
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 Aug 30, 4:48 AM AKST, 7 hours 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA 500 AM AKDT SAT AUG 29 2009 .MODEL DISCUSSION... MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT IN THE SHORT TERM OUT TO TUESDAY NIGHT. LEANING TOWARD THE NAM FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR THE DETAIL MAINLY IN THE EAST WHICH IS BETTER PICKING UP ON SOME TERRAIN ENHANCED FEATURES. THEN TRENDING TO TO THE NEW GFS. OUT WEST THE MODELS STILL A LITTLE SLOW MOVING THE FRONT INTO THE WESTERN BERING BUT SEEMS TO BE CATCHING UP TO THE ACTUAL POSITION .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... A VERTICALLY STACKED LOW OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA CONTINUES TO WEAKEN AND DRIFT SLOWLY TO THE SOUTHEAST OUT OF THE AREA TONIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE FROM THE BERING SEA WILL BUILD IN OVER SOUTHWEST AND PUSH EASTWARD INTO MONDAY. A FRONT FROM A LOW OVER SIBERIA WILL ENTER THE WESTERN BERING SEA THIS MORNING AND SLOWLY MAKE ITS WAY TO THE CENTRAL BERING TONIGHT. .SHORT TERM FORECAST... .SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA... DECREASING CLOUDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE MORNING. EXPECT SOME AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS AND FOG MAINLY ALONG COOK INLET AND THE COASTAL AREAS OF PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND THIS MORNING WITH MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES BY THIS AFTERNOON OVER MOST AREAS. A SHORT WAVE WILL ROTATE TO THE NORTH OF US TODAY. EXPECT MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS TO DEVELOP FROM THIS SHORT WAVE BUT PRECIPITATION TO STAY TO THE NORTH OF THE ALASKA RANGE. AS THE RIDGE FLATTENS A SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL DEVELOP OVER SOUTHCENTRAL BY MONDAY. EXPECT A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE NORTH MONDAY NIGHT SPREADING SOUTH BY TUESDAY. THE SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW WILL PERSIST INTO WEDNESDAY KEEPING SOUTHCENTRAL CLOUDY AND WET. .SOUTHWEST ALASKA... THE SHORT WAVE PASSING TO THE NORTH SHOULD BRING SHOWERS TO THE KUSKOKWIM VALLEY TODAY. WITH THE RIDGE TO THE SOUTH EXPECT MOSTLY CLEAR CONDITIONS TO PERSIST OVER BRISTOL BAY AND WITH THE WESTERLY FLOW ALONG THE WEST COAST STRATUS DRIZZLE AND FOG WILL CONTINUE OVER THE DELTA AREA. A FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL PUSH INTO SOUTHWEST FROM THE BERING BY SUNDAY NIGHT BRINGING ALONG A MOIST SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW WITH RAIN SPREADING OVER MOST AREAS BY MONDAY. .BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS... WIDESPREAD STRATUS AND FOG WILL CONTINUE UNDER THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE. GALE FORCE WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT OVER THE WESTERN BERING SEA WILL PERSIST AND SPREAD EAST TODAY REACHING THE PRIBILOFS BY TONIGHT. SHOWERS WILL PERSIST BEHIND THE FRONT AS AN UPPER TROUGH ROTATES INTO THE CENTRAL BERING MONDAY NIGHT. .LONG TERM FORECAST... THE UPPER TROUGH OVER THE BERING WILL ROTATE OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA BY FRIDAY. CONDITIONS OVER SOUTHCENTRAL EXPECTED TO STAY MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN THROUGH MOST OF THE WEEK. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...FLOOD WARNING 141 MARINE...GALES 175 176 185. FIRE WEATHER...NONE. AUG 09
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Pilot reports from the area stated the glacial dam lakes of the Tazlina and Nelchina glacier streams had released.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, August 2009
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: 188627.