Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 14 to 16, 2009
Start: 2009-12-14T17:00
End: 2009-12-16T05:00
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.

An area of low pressure developed south of the Kenai Peninsula on the morning of the 14th, and tracked to the Prince William Sound where the low remained quasi-stationary and slowly deepened on the 15th into the 16th. The low brought heavy snowfall to parts of the Eastern Alaska Range. A total of 26 inches of snow fell at Isabel Pass, which included 20 inches of snow in 24 hours from approximately 5 pm AKST on the 14th through 5 pm AKST on the 15th. The Co-operative Weather Observer at Bartell Creek, seven miles east of Mentasta Lake reported 14.0 inches of snow in 24 hours ending at 900 AKST on the 15th.

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 Dec 14, 3:36 PM AKST, 1 hour 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 14, 3:36 PM AKST, 1 hour 24 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
336 PM AKST MON DEC 14 2009

.DISCUSSION...
THE NAM AND GFS MODELS BOTH FORECAST A LARGE TROUGH OF LOW
PRESSURE ALOFT FROM PRUDHOE BAY TO BRISTOL BAY IS FORECAST TO
STRENGTHEN CONSIDERABLY OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS. A STRONG LOW
PRESSURE CENTER ALOFT IS FORECAST TO FORM NEAR UMIAT TUESDAY AND
TO REACH LAKE ILIAMNA WEDNESDAY. STARTING FRIDAY...THE GFS
FORECASTS THE LOW TO MOVE BACK NORTH AND TO REACH UMIAT ON
SATURDAY. THIS SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IS REASONABLE.

ARCTIC AIR HAS STREAMED DOWN OVER THE ARCTIC AND CENTRAL AND
WESTERN INTERIOR SECTIONS OF NORTHERN ALASKA. IT IS NOT COLD
ENOUGH FOR ANY RECORD COLD. THE GFS FORECASTS 850 MILLIBAR
TEMPERATURES FROM -25 DEGREES C TO -30 OVER THE ARCTIC AND WEST
INTERIOR BY WEDNESDAY. THIS IS ENOUGH FOR SOME 40 BELOW READINGS.
BY COMPARISON...THE BIG COLD SNAP IN JANUARY OF 1989 FEATURED A
LARGE AREA OF -40 DEGREE C OVER NEARLY ALL OF NORTHERN ALASKA.

ALONG WITH THIS COOLING ALOFT...THE MODELS FORECAST A STRONG
ARCTIC FRONT ALOFT...NOW EXTENDING FROM THE CENTRAL YUKON OUT OVER
THE NORTH SLOPES OF THE ALASKA RANGE...TO PERSIST THROUGH TUESDAY
NIGHT...AND THEN TO SHIFT UP TO RUN FROM THE EASTERN BROOKS RANGE
TO THE CENTRAL ALASKA RANGE ON WEDNESDAY. THIS WARMING
ALOFT...COMBINED WITH INCREASING SOUTH FLOW OVER THE EAST
MAINLAND...IS EXPECTED TO BRING RISING TEMPERATURES AND TO END THE
SNOWFALL OVER THE EAST INTERIOR ON WEDNESDAY. AT THE SAME
TIME...THE SNOW SHOULD SHIFT OVER TO THE CENTRAL INTERIOR.

THE GFS PROCEEDS TO FORECAST A RESURGENCE OF COLD AIR FROM THE
WEST ON THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. IF THIS RUNS TRUE...ANOTHER
BOUT OF SNOWFALL COULD BE EXPECTED IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN
INTERIOR. OVERALL...THESE ARE FORECASTS OF AN ACTIVE WEATHER WEEK
OVER NORTHERN ALASKA...PARTICULARLY THE INTERIOR.

TODAYS SATELLITE IMAGERY HAS SHOWN A NUMBER OF PERTINENT FEATURES.

1...A BAND OF CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH A FRONT ALOFT...NEAR THE
ALASKA RANGE. THIS FORMATION IS SOMETIMES CALLED A LEAF CLOUD. IT
HAS MOVED EASTWARD TODAY AND IS BRINGING WIDESPREAD LIGHT SNOWFALL
TO THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR. THE SNOW OVER THE EASTERN
ALASKA RANGE AND THE FORTYMILE COUNTRY/UPPER TANANA VALLEY IS
REACHING ADVISORY LEVELS. NOTE THAT LEAF CLOUDS OVER LAND IN
ALASKA WINTERS DO NOT COME WITH SEVERE WEATHER. OVER THE MID AND
POLEWARD OCEANS...THESE CLOUD FORMATIONS CAN LEAD TO THE RAPID
FORMATION OF LARGE...STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS.

2...A LARGE AND SOLID DECK OF STRATOCUMULUS CLOUDS OVER THE
EASTERN INTERIOR HAS EXPANDED OUT OF THE CENTRAL INTERIOR TODAY.
THIS CLOUD FORMATION IS OFTEN FOUND ON THE LEADING EDGE OF AN
ADVANCING ARCTIC AIR MASS. THERE IS WIDESPREAD LIGHT SNOWFALL
COMING FROM THIS CLOUD AREA.

3...IN THE ARCTIC SECTIONS...THE BROOKS RANGE NORTH TO THE
COAST...AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS AND FOG HAVE DRIFTED SOMEWHAT
AIMLESSLY FROM WEST TO EAST. THE ONLY REAL TREND IN SIGHT UP THERE
IS AN INCREASE IN NORTH WINDS TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. THIS TOO
IS AN OUTCOME OF THE ADVANCE OF THE ARCTIC AIR.

4...OUT WEST...THE EDGE OF THE ICE PACK IN THE BERING SEA IS
CLEARLY DISCERNIBLE ALL THE WAY FROM NORTH BRISTOL BAY OUT TO THE
GULF OF ANADYR. THIS OF COURSE COMES WITH A LARGE AREA OF CLEAR
AND COLD WEATHER OVER THE NORTH BERING SEA. THE STRONG DEFINITION
OF THE EDGE OF THIS ADVANCING ICE PACK DIFFERS MARKEDLY FROM THE
ICE EDGE DURING ITS SPRINGTIME RETREAT...WHICH IS UNEVEN AND
SEEMINGLY DISORGANIZED. IF THERE WAS MUCH OPEN WATER IN THE MARINE
AREA FROM DALL POINT TO WALES TODAY...THERE WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY BE
HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY IN THOSE WATERS.

IN THE MEDIUM RANGE...THE EUROPEAN MODEL FOLLOWS THE GFS MODEL
FORECAST THROUGH THURSDAY. STARTING FRIDAY...THE GFS IS ABOUT A
DAY AHEAD OF THE EUROPEAN MODEL IN FORECASTING A NORTHWARD RETREAT
OF THE COLD LOW ALOFT. RETURN FLOW OF GULF OF ALASKA AND BERING
SEA AIR WITH THIS DEVELOPMENT AS FORECAST BY THE GFS WOULD BRING
MODERATING TEMPERATURES OVER THE WEEKEND. THE EUROPEAN MODEL IS
MORE CONSERVATIVE IN THIS REGARD. BOTH MODELS FORECAST THE RETURN
FLOW...ALBEIT IN DIFFERENT STRENGTH...FOR THE FIRST HALF OF NEXT
WEEK. IF ALL THIS HOLDS...THE CURRENT COLD SNAP WILL ONLY LAST
ABOUT A WEEK. REALLY BIG WINTER COLD SNAPS IN ALASKA CAN GO AS
LONG AS 3 1/2 WEEKS.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ224-AKZ226.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ215-PKZ220.
&&

TF DEC 09

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: December 14, 5:00 PM AKST to December 16, 5:00 AM AKST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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, December 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: 200149.