An ice jam created flooding along the Susitna River in Talkeetna. Damage estimates are from the State of Alaska Disaster disaster declaration request to the President.
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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.
An ice jam created flooding along the Susitna River in Talkeetna. Damage estimates are from the State of Alaska Disaster disaster declaration request to the President.
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 May 3, 12:15 PM AKST, 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA 115 PM AKDT SUN MAY 3 2009 .MODEL DISCUSSION... MODELS ARE IN EXCELLENT AGREEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT TERM...OR THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON FOR THE MAINLAND. DIFFERENCES EMERGE IN THE HANDLING OF AN UPPER LOW IN THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS BEGINNING WEDNESDAY AND EXTENDING THROUGH THE LONG TERM. THE ECMWF WAS PREFERRED BECAUSE OF ITS BETTER HANDLING OF THE EVOLUTION OF THIS UPPER LOW. .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... A WEAKENING RIDGE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL CLEAR SKIES AND RECORD BREAKING WARMTH EXTENDS WEST TO EAST ACROSS OUR AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY IN THE INTERIOR. THIS RIDGING ALSO EXTENDS OUT INTO THE CENTRAL BERING SEA AND ALSO COVERS THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS. A LARGE UPPER LOW CONTINUES TO SPIN NEARLY STATIONARY IN THE NORTH PACIFIC JUST SOUTH OF THE GULF OF ALASKA...CENTERED NEAR 50N 150W. A SHORTWAVE MOVING SOUTHWEST ON THE BACK SIDE OF THIS LOW IS CLEARLY VISIBLE ON SATELLITE IMAGES MOVING TOWARDS THE SOUTH AND WEST TOWARDS THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN BERING SEA FROM NEAR THE PRIBILOFS. BACK OVER THE MAINLAND...A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDS ACROSS THE COPPER RIVER BASIN AND INTO THE SUSITNA VALLEY FROM A 995 MB SURFACE LOW LOCATED OVER THE SOUTHERN YUKON TERRITORY. .SHORT TERM FORECAST... SOUTH AND EAST OF THE ALASKA RANGE... WILL BE WATCHING THE ALASKA RANGE IN ZONE 141 OVER THE LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING HOURS FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF CONVECTION FIRING GIVEN SURFACE BASED INSTABILITY. HOWEVER...GIVEN THE MID-LEVEL RIDGE IS LOCATED DIRECTLY OVER THE AREA...THERE MAY BE ENOUGH SUBSIDENCE ALOFT TO PREVENT THIS POTENTIAL ACTIVITY FROM DEVELOPING. OTHERWISE...EXPECT COOLING TEMPERATURES OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS THE RIDGE SLOWLY BREAKS DOWN AND IS REPLACED BY A TROUGH WHICH MOVES INTO THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY FROM THE NORTH AND WEST. THIS WILL BRING CLOUDS AND TEMPERATURES CLOSER TO NORMAL THAN WHAT WE HAVE SEEN...AND ALSO WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPRESS THE FIRE DANGER BY RAISING RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES. HOWEVER...THE DYNAMICS DO NOT LOOK IMPRESSIVE ENOUGH TO GENERATE MUCH IF ANY PRECIPITATION. SOUTHWEST ALASKA... THE RIDGE EXTENDING FROM THE WEST INTO THE INTERIOR WILL GIVE WAY TO A TROUGH APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH AND WEST TUESDAY...WHICH WILL RAPIDLY CROSS THE AREA AND BE LOCATED OVER THE ALASKA RANGE TUESDAY NIGHT. THIS FEATURE WILL ONLY BRING CLOUDS WITH IT...UNTIL IT REACHES THE ALASKA RANGE...WHEN WINDS AND CLOUDS WILL INCREASE FROM MCGRATH DOWN TO NEAR ILIAMNA AND KING SALMON FOR TUESDAY AFTERNOON INTO WEDNESDAY. ALEUTIANS/ALASKA PENINSULA/BERING SEA... THE SHORTWAVE LOCATED JUST SOUTH AND WEST OF THE PRIBILOFS WILL WORK ITS WAY SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS THIS EVENING BEFORE MOVING INTO THE NORTH PACIFIC. AFTER THAT...RIDGING FROM THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS AND CENTRAL BERING SEA GIVES WAY TO A TROUGH MOVING SOUTH AND EAST FROM THE NORTHERN BERING SEA INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE STATE. THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY CONTINUED STRONG RIDGING AND A CUT-OFF HIGH PRESSURE FORMING OVER THE BERING SEA TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. THE GFS BEGINS TO IMPINGE WITH A CLOSED UPPER LOW AND 994 MB SURFACE LOW TOWARDS THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS WEDNESDAY...HOWEVER THE ECMWF SOLUTION IS PREFERRED WITH THE LOW REMAINING FARTHER TO THE SOUTH AND WEST...WITH THE RIDGE REMAINING STRONG OVER THE BERING INTO EARLY THURSDAY BEFORE PRECIPITATION BEGINS TO AFFECT THE FAR WESTERN ALEUTIANS LATE THURSDAY. .LONG TERM FORECAST... AS RIDGING WORKS ITS WAY EASTWARD ACROSS SOUTHWEST ALASKA TOWARDS THURSDAY FROM THE BERING SEA...THE TROUGH WHICH SLOWS DOWN OVER SOUTHCENTRAL SPLITS...WITH A PIECE DROPPING SOUTH INTO THE GULF AND THE NORTHERN PIECE BEGINNING TO LIFT OUT. THIS ALLOWS RIDGING TO BUILD ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE STATE...BRINGING A POTENTIAL RETURN OF BEAUTIFUL WEATHER TO MOST OF THE REGION FOR FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...FLOOD WARNING...145 151 MARINE...NONE. FIRE WEATHER...RED FLAG WARNING...101 111 141 CC MAY 09
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Ice Jam Flooding occurred near Talkeetna. Flooding damaged the Alaska Railroad tracks in the area.
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, May 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: 157816.