A storm force low developed off the Queen Charlotte Islands down to 972 MB on Thursday afternoon 12/17 and moved rapidly northward under a southerly jet stream, making landfall around Icy Cape on the morning of 12/18. A strong front moved onto the SE Alaska coast on the morning of 12/18 causing wind gusts to 70 MPH for Prince of Wales Island.
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 AJK wrote it up.
A storm force low developed off the Queen Charlotte Islands down to 972 MB on Thursday afternoon 12/17 and moved rapidly northward under a southerly jet stream, making landfall around Icy Cape on the morning of 12/18. A strong front moved onto the SE Alaska coast on the morning of 12/18 causing wind gusts to 70 MPH for Prince of Wales Island. This same system brought heavy snow to the Haines area during the early morning hours of 12/18 due to warm air overrunning.
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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 16, 4:42 PM AKST, 12 hours earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
442 PM AKST WED DEC 16 2009
.SHORT TERM...SAT IMAGERY AT NOON SHOWS A COMPLEX FORECAST
PATTERN OVER THE AK GULF AND SE PANHANDLE. LOW 1 OVER PRINCE
WILLIAM SOUND WILL REMAIN THERE THROUGH THIS EVENING BEFORE
DISSIPATING N. THE FRONT FORM THIS SYSTEM HAS CONTINUED SNOW FALL
OVER PAYA THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. THE BIG QUESTIONS IS
TEMPERATURES OVER PKZ17. TEMPS HAVE BEEN AT OR BELOW FREEZING
THROUGH THE DAY WITH MODELS SHOWING WARMER TEMPS THIS AFTERNOON
BEFORE ANOTHER COLD POOL TRACKING IN. MODEL 850 TEMPS WARMING TO
-3 THIS EVENING THEN DROPPING TO -9. DECIDED TO KEEP THE AREAS
MORE SNOW WITH A MIX OF RAIN...THAT SAID SNOW AMOUNTS WERE
INCREASED SO HAVE EXTENDED THE WINTER WEATHER ADV OUT TO 5 AM
THU. WINDS OVER THE N OUTER COAST ARE AT GALE FORCE AND EXPECT
THEM TO CONTINUE THROUGH THIS EVENING BEFORE THE LOW DISSIPATED.
TIMING IS A BIT UNCERTAIN SO COULD SEE A DRAMATIC DROP OFF
EARLIER THAN EXPECTED. LOW2 OVER THE QUEEN CHARLOTTES HAS BEEN
TRACKING NE TOWARD BC. THIS HAS BEEN PROVIDING SOME LIGHT SNOW
OVER THE SRN ZONES THIS MORNING BUT HAS DISSIPATING. SNOW FALL
OVER HYDER FORM THIS LOW HAS BEEN LESS THAN ANTICIPATED SO HAD
ENDED THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY OVER PKZ29 EARLY. LOW 3 IS
MOVING UP FROM THE N PAC THU INTO FRI WITH GALE FORCE WINDS IN
COASTAL WATER WITH WIND ADVY GUSTS OVER THE SRN 3 ZONES. FINAL
TIMING OF THIS WILL DEPEND OF LONG TERM. A BIT OF UNCERTAINTY
WITH THE FINAL TRACK OF THIS LOW AS GFS HAD THE LOW DUMBBELL OVER
THE PANHANDLE FRI AFTERNOON.
MODEL OF CHOICE WAS THE GFS BUT MADE FEW CHANGES TO PRESS AND
WINDS IN THE GRIDS. BIGGEST CHANGES WERE COOLING OFF TEMPS TO THE
N SLIGHTLY KEEPING SNOW LONGER IN THE FORECAST WITH HIGHER
AMOUNTS. CONFIDENCE IS BELOW AVERAGE. WHILE MODELS WERE IN FAIR
AGREEMENT AND INITIALIZED WELL THE TEMPERATURE RANGE SO CLOSE TO
A MIX OF SNOW AND RAIN CAN CAUSE SOME LARGE DIFFERENCES IN SNOW
FALL AMOUNTS.
&&
.LONG TERM...LONG RANGE MODELS REMAIN IN FAIR AGREEMENT THROUGH
WEEKEND BUT BEGIN TO DIVERGE BY THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK. THE
COLD UPPER TROUGH IN THE GULF OF ALASKA TILTS SE TO NW AS IT
SWINGS THROUGH SE ALASKA BY SATURDAY. THEN A NEW TROUGH ALOFT IS
ESTABLISHED FURTHER WEST OVER THE BERING SEA THAT BUILDS A RIDGE
IN THE GULF BY MONDAY. MODELS DIFFER IN THE EASTERLY PROGRESSION
OF THE RIDGE. FOLLOWED HPC PREFERENCE OF STEEPING THE RIDGE BUT
KEEPING IT FIXED IN THE GULF RATHER THAN MOVING IT THROUGH
SOUTHEAST ALASKA. ENSEMBLES SHOW CONSIDERABLE SPREAD ON THE EAST
SIDE OF THE RIDGE SO THERE IS STILL A FAIR AMOUNT OF UNCERTAINTY
ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THE WESTERLIES WILL BREAK THROUGH THE RIDGE.
FOR THE WEEKEND THE RAIN WILL ABRUPTLY CHANGE TO SNOW SHOWERS AS
VERY COLD AND STRONG WESTERLY FLOW FOLLOWS THE TROUGH THAT MOVES
INLAND INTO CANADA. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THUNDER WITH THE
SHARP TEMPERATURE CONTRAST OVER FRI NIGHT. SHOWERS WILL DIMINISH
EARLY IN THE WEEK AS THE COLD ARE IS MODIFIED BY THE BUILDING
RIDGE.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...WIND ADVISORY FROM NOON THURSDAY TO MIDNIGHT AKST THURSDAY NIGHT
FOR AKZ027>029.
WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 5 AM AKST THURSDAY FOR AKZ019.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 5 AM AKST THURSDAY FOR AKZ017.
MARINE...GALE WARNING FOR PKZ011>013-022-033>036-041>043-051-052.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ021-031-032.
&&
PRB/CFD1 winter storm, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy snow continued into the morning of 12/18 due to warm overrunning. The heavy snow was focused up the Chilkat Highway on the night of 12/17. Haines Customs measured 11.0 inches of new snow for 24 hours ending at 0700 AKST on 12/18. Frequent winds to 40 MPH were observed at the Haines Airport during this storm.
Hydaburg AWOS had a measured gust of 58 KT at 0136 AKST on 12/18. Gusts around 70 MPH were common near headlands on Prince of Wales Island. Peak winds exceeded 100 KT at Lincoln Rock (marine observation ) on the morning of 12/18.
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, December 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: 205211, 205205.