Two powerful north Pacific storms moved across the eastern Aleutians beginning December 4th continuing through December 7th. The storms produced winds of 125 mph across the eastern Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula and to 70 to 85 mph across the Bristol Bay area and to around 75 mph in the Pribilof Islands.
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.
Two powerful north Pacific storms moved across the eastern Aleutians beginning December 4th continuing through December 7th. The storms produced winds of 125 mph across the eastern Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula and to 70 to 85 mph across the Bristol Bay area and to around 75 mph in the Pribilof Islands. Extensive damage was reported in the community of Unalaska and Dutch Harbor and significant damage was reported in King Cove and in the communities of St Paul and St George. The APL crane in Dutch Harbor was toppled by the extreme wind.
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 Dec 3, 12:23 PM AKST, 2 hours 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA 1223 PM AKST THU DEC 3 2009 .MODEL DISCUSSION...FOCUS FOR NEXT 4 DAYS IS ON THE ALEUTIANS AND BERING SEA AS A SERIES OF VERY POWERFUL STORMS MOVE ACROSS THE REGION. GFS AND NAM IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT ON THE FIRST ALEUTIAN SYSTEM WHICH WILL START TO IMPACT THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN ALEUTIANS THIS AFTERNOON. THROUGH FRI NIGHT MODELS IN STEP ON POSITION AND DEPTH BUT ON SAT THE NAM DEEPENS ANOTHER 8 MB OVER THE GFS AS MAIN CENTER LIES IN THE SOUTHERN BERING SEA. WOULD TEND TO GO WITH GFS SOLUTION. YET ANOTHER POWERFUL LOW (940S) MOVES NEAR THE CENTRAL ALEUTIANS SAT NIGHT BUT STALLS NEAR 50N 170W SUN AND MON. .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...MAIN UPPER LEVEL FEATURE IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN HIGH AMPLITUDE SE TO NW ORIENTED RIDGE OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA WHICH PERSISTS THROUGH MON. THE AFOREMENTIONED LOWS MOVE UP THE WEST SIDE OF THE RIDGE INSTEAD OF MOVING EASTWARD. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE INTERIOR ON FRI. .SHORT TERM FORECAST...EASTERN ALEUTIANS AND AK PEN CAN EXPECT VERY STRONG WINDS AND PLENTY OF PRECIP...SHOULD START OFF AS SNOW THU NIGHT AND FRI MORNING BUT CHANGING OVER TO RAIN BY MIDDAY ON FRIDAY. RAIN COULD BE HEAVY AT TIMES ESPECIALLY ALONG THE AK PEN WITH CONSIDERABLE UPSLOPE FLOW. BY FRI NIGHT FRONT IS OVER KODIAK ISLAND BRING VERY STRONG WINDS AND RAIN. WOULD EXPECT SOME LOCALIZED HIGH WATER PROBLEMS BY LATE IN THE WEEKEND DUE TO RAIN AND SNOW MELT ALONG THE AK PEN AND POSSIBLY KODIAK IS. ALSO EXPECTING THE FRONT TO MOVE INTO BRISTOL BAY AND KUSKO DELTA FRI NIGHT...WINDY WITH SNOW MIXED WITH RAIN ON SAT IN COASTAL LOCALES. .LONG TERM FORECAST...SECOND MAJOR SYSTEM ON SUN WILL ONCE AGAIN GENERATE VERY STRONG WINDS AND PRECIP FROM THE CENTRAL ALEUTIANS EASTWARD TO KODIAK ISLAND. AT THE CURRENT TIME THIS WOULD APPEAR TO BE A REPEAT OF THE FIRST STORM. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNINGS: 187 185 181 HIGH SURF: 181 171 MARINE...STRMS AND GALES IN ALL WEST ZONES FIRE WEATHER...NOT AND ISSUE AT PRESENT JMP DEC 09
6 high wind, 1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
The DUTA2 observation reported a peak gust of 100 KT.
The Colville RAWS at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park reported a peak gust of 85 MPH.
The King Cove Police Chief reported that a public anemometer measured a peak gust of 109 mph.
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: 198531, 198533, 198528, 198530, 198532, 198551, 198529.