Blizzard and Heavy Snow in Alaska, February 15 to 17, 2009

A 975 mb low in the southern Bering sea on the morning of the 15th tracked north over the west coast of Alaska and weakened to 996 mb near Point Lay on the afternoon of the 17th. The storm brought heavy snow and blizzard conditions to parts of the west coast and arctic coast.

Zone 201: Point Lay had heavy snow and blizzard conditions which started on the evening of the 16th and continued through the late afternoon on the 17th. The visibility at the Point Lay AWOS was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less. A west to southwest wind of 25 to 35 mph was observed at both Point Lay and Atqasuk. A peak wind gust of 47 mph was observed at the Atqasuk AWOS.

Zone 202: Blizzard conditions were observed at the Barrow WSO from the early morning through mid-afternoon hours of the 17th. The visiblity was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in heavy snow and blowing snow. A west to southwest wind of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 40 mph was observed during this event.

Zone 203: Blizzard conditions were observed at Kuparuk during the afternoon and early evening hours on the 17th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile in blowing snow at the Kuparuk Supplemental Aviation Weather Reporting Station. A west wind of 25 to 35 mph was observed with gusts to 40 mph.

Zone 209: Heavy snow was observed at Kotzebue from about noon on the 15th through the late morning hours on the 16th. A total of 6.1 inches of snow was observed at the Kotzebue Weather Service Office. In addition, a west wind of 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 30 mph produced areas of blowing snow during the early morning hours on the 16th.

Zone 210: Blizzard conditions were observed at Deering during the early morning hours of the 16th. The visibility was reduced at the Deering ASOS to one quarter of a mile in snow and blowing snow. A west wind of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 40 mph was observed. It is also likely that the snowfall exceeded 6 inches at Deering during this event.

Zone 214: Heavy snow likely occurred in parts of the Yukon Delta from the early morning hours of the 15th through the early morning hours of the 16th. Based on the observation of 5 inches of snow at Bethel, it is likely that 6 inches or more of snow fell in parts of the Yukon Delta. In addtion, along the coast, local blizzard conditions were observed. At the Cape Romanzof AWOS the visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less with sustained wind speeds of 25 to 40 mph.