A tropically connected storm resulted in heavy rain over the Kenai Peninsula that produced flooding in the Seward area. The approach to the bridge to Lowell Point washed out and a land slide at a tunnel at mile 11 shut down the Alaska Railroad.
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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.
A tropically connected storm resulted in heavy rain over the Kenai Peninsula that produced flooding in the Seward area. The approach to the bridge to Lowell Point washed out and a land slide at a tunnel at mile 11 shut down the Alaska Railroad.
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 Jul 30, 4:00 AM AKST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA 500 AM AKDT THU JUL 30 2009 .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... IN THE UPPER-LVLS A LARGE UPPER LOW IS PREDOMINANT ACROSS THE BERING SEA. AN UPPER-RIDGE IS DRAPED THROUGH SE AK NOSING UP TO THE ALCAN BORDER AND EASTERN COPPER RIVER BASIN. A VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE TROF IS APPROACHING THE SW GULF OF AK MOVING NORTH. AT THE SURFACE A WAVE OF LOW PRESSURE IS APPROACHING THE GULF OF AK AND KODIAK ISLAND. .MODEL DISCUSSION... THERE IS SATISFACTORY AGREEMENT AMONG THE MODELS THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. THOUGH INITIALIZATION WAS MARGINAL WITH THE FAST MOVING SYSTEM APPROACHING KODIAK TODAY...THE FEATURE LOOKS TO MOVE ONSHORE THE KENAI PENINSULA BY THIS EVENING. THEN...THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES IN THE GUIDANCE EXIST IN THE WESTERN PART OF THE AOR...WITH THE TIMING AND SCOPE OF VARIOUS SHORTWAVES ROTATING AROUND THE UPPER-LOW. THE NAM AND GFS WERE EMPLOYED IN THE MORNING FORECAST PACKAGE. .SHORT TERM FORECAST... .SOUTHCENTRAL... WAVE OF LOW PRESSURE WILL ADVANCE TOWARDS THE KENAI PENINSULA THIS EVENING...WITH RAIN OVERSPREADING THE REGION FROM SOUTH TO NORTH. RAIN WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY ACROSS WESTERN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND DURING THE EVENING...PARTICULARLY AROUND SEWARD. A FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THIS REGION. AS THE LOW MOVES NORTH PAST THE KENAI PENINSULA...PRECIPITATION WILL TAPER TO SHOWERS...BUT LOOK FOR WINDS TO BECOME GUSTY THROUGH PORTAGE VALLEY AND ALONG TURNAGAIN ARM TONIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. .SOUTHWEST... PERIODS OF RAIN DEVELOPING DURING THE AFTERNOON OVER INTERIOR BRISTOL BAY. SCATTERED SHOWERS ELSEWHERE DUE TO PROXIMITY OF UPPER-LOW WHICH WILL MEANDER IN THE EASTERN GULF INTO THE WEEKEND. .BERING SEA AND ALEUTIANS... PERIODS OF SHOWERS TODAY...WITH INCREASING THREAT OF RAIN ON FRIDAY AS AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE ADVANCES TOWARDS THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL ALEUTIANS. UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL CONTINUE AS VARIOUS SHORTWAVES ROTATE AROUND THE UPPER-LOW IN THE BERING. .LONG TERM FORECAST... MOSTLY UNSETTLED OVER THE WESTERN AOR WITH BROAD UPPER-LOW A PREDOMINANT FEATURE. ACROSS SOUTHCENTRAL...COOL AND CLOUDY CONDITIONS THROUGH THE WEEKEND...THEN TURNING WARMER AND DRIER AS UPPER-RIDGING TRIES TO NOSE BACK INTO THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...FLOOD WATCH 125...FLOOD ADVISORY 121 MARINE...GALE 351 352 120 130 FIRE WEATHER...NONE JAM JUL 09
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
River gages in Seward exceeded flood stage.
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, July 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: 177757.