Alaska, 2009

Blizzard in Alaska, December 4 to 5, 2009

December 4 to 5, 2009 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A 952 mb low in the southern Bering Sea combined with a 1060 mb high across the Yukon to produce strong winds and blizzard conditions at Gambell from the late afternoon hours on the 4th through the early morning hours on the 5th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile in snow and blowing snow.

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 952 mb low in the southern Bering Sea combined with a 1060 mb high across the Yukon to produce strong winds and blizzard conditions at Gambell from the late afternoon hours on the 4th through the early morning hours on the 5th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile in snow and blowing snow. The Gambell AWOS had sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with occasional gusts as high as 47 mph/41kt.

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 4, 6:34 AM AKST, 8 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 4, 6:34 AM AKST, 8 hours 2 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
634 AM AKST FRI DEC 4 2009

.DISCUSSION...
CURRENT NAM/GFS RUNS IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT AND HAVE SATISFACTORY
CONTINUITY WITH PREVIOUS RUNS ON THE HANDLING OF THE TWO STRONG
SURFACE SYSTEMS MOVING NORTHWEST TOWARDS THE ALEUTIANS. THE SECOND
LOW...NOW NEAR 42N/160W... WILL DEEPEN RAPIDLY DURING THE NEXT
12-18 HOURS AS IT BECOMES THE DOMINANT SYSTEM.

WINTER STORM WATCHES BEGINNING THIS EVENING FOR AKZ211/213/214
WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT. GALES DEVELOPING OVER MOST OF PKZ210/
AKZ213/AKZ214/WESTERN PKZ200 THIS EVENING CONTINUING THROUGH SAT.
GALE GUSTS LIKELY IN PARTS OF AKZ212/AKZ215. GALES OR GALE GUSTS
DEVELOPING IN PKZ215/PKZ220/AKZ207/AKZ209 SAT.

MIXED PRECIPITATION WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER AKZ214 AS MILDER
AIR STREAMS NORTH. SEWARD PENINSULA TEMPS CLIMBING TO NEAR
FREEZING BY SAT AFTERNOON...WITH SLIGHTLY ABOVE FREEZING
TEMPERATURES POSSIBLE SAT NIGHT AND SUN.

MEDIUM RANGE OUTLOOK...GFS CONTINUES TO INDICATE LOWER 500 MB
HEIGHTS AND COLDER 850 MB TEMPERATURES THAN THE ECMWF OVER THE
EASTERN PARTS OF THE FORECAST AREA. COOLING WILL UNDOUBTEDLY OCCUR
BUT HOW MUCH IS STILL UNCERTAIN AT THIS TIME.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER STORM WATCH FOR AKZ211-AKZ213-AKZ214.

HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING FOR PKZ210.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ200-PKZ210.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225.
&&

RF DEC 09

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When
December 4, 2:36 PM AKST to December 5, 4:16 AM 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 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 198542.