Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 14 to 18, 2009

Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 14 to 18, 2009
Start: 2009-03-14T04:56
End: 2009-03-18T03:36
Location: Alaska

March 14 to 18, 2009 · NWS AFG · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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 strong ridge of high pressure well off the Arctic Coast on the 14th gradually built into the Chukchi Sea by the 17th. The ridge of high pressure produced an unseasonably cold air mass across much of northern Alaska. During this time, a large complex of low pressure was in the Gulf of Alaska. A strong difference in pressure between the high and low produced strong wind across much of northern Alaska and led to extremely low wind chills.

Zone 201: Temperatures of 30 to 35 below zero combined with a northeast wind of around 20 mph to produce wind chills as low as 67 below zero at the Point Lay AWOS during the morning hours on the 14th.

Zone 204: Temperatures of 30 to 35 below zero combined with a west wind of around 15 mph to produce wind chills as low as 61 below zero at the Barter Island AWOS during the late evening hours on the 15th into the early morning hours on the 16th.

Zone 205: Temperatures of 25 to 35 below zero combined with a northeast wind of 20 to 30 mph to produce wind chills as low as 70 below at the Anaktuvuk Pass AWOS from the early morning hours on the 15th through the morning hours on the 17th. Similar wind chills were likely observed in passes and across the higher elevations of the northwestern Brooks Range.

Zone 206: Temperatures of 25 to 35 below zero combined with a northeast wind of 20 to 30 mph to produce wind chills as low as 70 below at the Anaktuvuk Pass AWOS from the early morning hours on the 15th through the early morning hours on the 18th. At the Atigun Pass SNOTEL, temperatures as low as 46 below combined with a northeast wind of around 20 mph to produce wind chills as low as 82 below. The lowest wind chills at Atigun Pass were observed during the early morning hours on the 15th through the early afternoon hours on the 16th.

Zone 218: Temperatures of 25 to 30 below zero combined with a northeast wind of 20 to 25 mph to produce wind chills as low as 63 below at the Helmut Mountain RAWS. The lowest wind chills were observed from the late evening hours on the 15th through the morning hours on the 16th.

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 Mar 14, 3:22 AM AKST, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 14, 3:22 AM AKST, 1 hour 34 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
422 AM AKDT SAT MAR 14 2009

.DISCUSSION...
THE MODELS REMAIN IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT A COLDER THAN NORMAL
PATTERN WILL PERSIST WELL INTO NEXT WEEK. A COLD UPPER LOW IN THE
VICINITY OF MACKENZIE BAY EARLY THIS MORNING WILL DIG SOUTH
THROUGH THE NORTHERN YUKON THROUGH TONIGHT...AND THEN WILL DIVE
QUICKLY SOUTHWEST TO NEAR KODIAK ISLAND BY MONDAY AFTERNOON.

ALL OF THE MODELS HAVE 850 MB TEMPS EVERY BIT AS COLD AS DURING
PROLONGED COLD SNAP EARLIER THIS WINTER...WITH TEMPS OF -30C OR
COLDER ACROSS JUST ABOUT ALL OF THE INTERIOR BY SUNDAY. 850 MB
TEMPS AT FAIRBANKS COULD EVEN APPROACH RECORD LOWS BY 12Z MON.
THE BIG DIFFERENCE NOW IS THAT THE MAX SOLAR ANGLE IS MUCH HIGHER
(17 TO 27 DEGREES FROM NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS NORTHERN AK) AND THE
DAYS ARE MUCH LONGER. LOWS OF 20 TO 40 BELOW CAN BE EXPECTED
ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR...BUT STRONG RADIATIVE INVERSIONS WILL
BREAK BY EARLY AFTERNOON ALLOWING A NICE REBOUND IN TEMPS AND
LARGE DIURNAL RANGES.

THE PATTERN WILL BE A MAINLY DRY ONE ACROSS THE INTERIOR WITH THE
EXCEPTION OF SOME LIGHT OVERRUNNING SNOW IN PARTS OF THE UPPER
TANANA VALLEY AND EASTERN AK RANGE TODAY AND SOME FLURRIES AS THE
COLDER AIR ALOFT SPREADS ACROSS THE AREA. THE BIG ONLY CONCERN THE
NEXT FEW DAYS WILL BE FOR PERIODS OF LOW WIND CHILLS...MAINLY FROM
MIDNIGHT TO NOON EACH DAY ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE
INTERIOR. A STRONG SURFACE RIDGE COVERS THE NORTHERN BERING SEA
AND EASTERN RUSSIA AND EAST ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST WITH LOW PRESSURE
ACROSS THE NORTHERN GULF. THIS WILL PRODUCE A MODERATELY STRONG
PRESSURE GRADIENT...AND LEAD TO SOME STRONGER WIND...ESPECIALLY
ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN.

THE LOWEST WIND CHILLS ARE LIKELY TO BE LATE TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY
MORNING AND AGAIN SUN NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING AS THE GRADIENT WILL
BE STRONGER THAN IT IS CURRENTLY...AND THE AREA WILL BE IN THE
HART OF THE COLD AIRMASS. IN MOST CASES WILL EXTEND THE WIND CHILL
ADVISORIES THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING AND WILL MAKE MENTION IN THE
STATEMENTS THAT THE WIND CHILLS WILL TEMPORARILY BE LESS HARSH
THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST THE WIND
CHILL ADVISORY WAS UPGRADED TO A WIND CHILL WARNING IN ZONE 201 AS
A STRONGER GRADIENT ALONG THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST IS PRODUCING
WIND CHILLS OF 60 TO 65 BELOW AT POINT LAY. WILL ALSO EXPAND THE
WIND CHILL ADVISORIES TO INCLUDE MANY AREAS NORTH OF THE BERING
STRAIT ALONG THE WEST COAST LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING. ASIDE
FROM THE LOW WIND CHILLS ONLY A FEW FLURRIES ARE EXPECTED THE NEXT
FEW DAYS ALONG THE WEST COAST.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL WARNING FOR AKZ201.

WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ213-AKZ217-
AKZ218-AKZ219-AKZ220-AKZ221-AKZ222.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230.

&&

CB MAR 09

Event by event

5 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Western Arctic Coast

When: March 14, 4:56 AM AKST to 11:56 AM AKST
Where: Western Arctic Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R

When: March 15, 4:16 AM AKST to March 18, 3:36 AM AKST
Where: N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R forecast zone
Reported by: SNOTEL

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, N. Brooks Rng Colville Rvr W

When: March 15, 5:36 AM AKST to March 17, 9:36 AM AKST
Where: N. Brooks Rng Colville Rvr W forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast

When: March 15, 9:15 PM AKST to March 16, 12:35 AM AKST
Where: Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, S. Slopes of Ern Brooks Range

When: March 15, 11:18 PM AKST to March 16, 8:18 AM AKST
Where: S. Slopes of Ern Brooks Range forecast zone
Reported by: RAWS

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

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, March 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: 153162, 153165, 153164, 153163, 153166.