Blizzard in Alaska, February 27, 2009

Name: Blizzard in Alaska, February 27, 2009
Start: 2009-02-27T06:30
End: 2009-02-27T14:00
Location: Alaska

February 27, 2009 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Another strong Bering Sea storm moved into the eastern Bering Sea producing strong wind and snow resulting in a blizzard in the Kuskokwim Delta.

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 AFC wrote it up.

Another strong Bering Sea storm moved into the eastern Bering Sea producing strong wind and snow resulting in a blizzard in the Kuskokwim Delta.

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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 27, 4:00 AM AKST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 27, 4:00 AM AKST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
400 AM AKST FRI FEB 27 2009

.ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...
HIGHLY AMPLIFIED UPPER FLOW WITH THE MEAN UPPER RIDGE POSITION ALONG
ABOUT 165 DEGREES WEST LONGITUDE...A DEEP LOW OVER SIBERIA AND A
SHARP TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN GULF OF ALASKA.

THE RIDGE MENTIONED ABOVE HAS BEEN THE STUBBORN FEATURE FOR THE LAST
WEEK OR TWO. SYSTEMS RIDE OVER THE TOP OF THE RIDGE AND IT JUST POPS
BACK UP AGAIN. SURFACE PRESSURE HAS BEEN CORRESPONDINGLY HIGH AS
WELL...SO THAT WHEN LOWS CROSS ALASKA THERE ARE STRONG PRESSURE
GRADIENTS (AND WIND) BOTH AHEAD OF AND BEHIND THE LOWS. THIS PATTERN
LOOKS TO CONTINUE INTO AT LEAST THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.

.SHORT TERM FORECAST...
AN OPEN TROUGH WITH A STRONG WARM FRONT WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHWEST
ALASKA TODAY FOR A VARIETY OF WINTER WEATHER. THIS WILL RANGE FROM
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS TO FREEZING RAIN TO STRONG WINDS AND RAPIDLY
FLUCTUATING TEMPERATURES. SOUTH CENTRAL WILL BE DRY AS A SHORT WAVE
RIDGE PUSHES ACROSS THE AREA. PRECIPITATION WILL SPREAD INTO SOUTH
CENTRAL ON SATURDAY AS THE TROUGH MOVES EAST. THE TRAILING COLD
FRONT WILL PUSH ACROSS SOUTHWEST ALASKA...AND THEN SOUTH CENTRAL
SATURDAY NIGHT. THE NOSE OF THE RIDGE WILL NUDGE INTO SOUTHERN
ALASKA ON SUNDAY...WITH THE NEXT SYSTEM REACHING THE WEST COAST OF
ALASKA SUNDAY EVENING

.LONG TERM FORECAST...
AS MENTIONED ABOVE...THE WEATHER PATTERN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH AT
LEAST THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. THE MODELS ARE HINTING AT A
POSSIBILITY OF THE RIDGE RETROGRADING NEXT WEEKEND...BUT THIS IS
BEYOND THE PERIOD WHERE THERE IS ANY CONFIDENCE IN NUMERICAL
GUIDANCE.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...BLIZZARD WARNING 155.
MARINE...GALE WRNG 130 132 150 155 160 165 170 172 176 179 180 185.
         HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WRNG 160 180 185.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

LUDWIG FEB 09

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Kuskokwim Delta

When: February 27, 6:30 AM AKST to 2:00 PM AKST
Where: Kuskokwim Delta forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

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

Every storm in Alaska in 2009 Every state in 2009 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, February 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: 148720.