Temperatures held steady near 32F as cooler air continued to drain down the Chilkat River valley, while a frontal band moved north across the Southeast Alaska panhandle with warm, moist air aloft on 11/25 and 11/26. Overrunning heavy snow persisted during that time.
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 AJK wrote it up.
Temperatures held steady near 32F as cooler air continued to drain down the Chilkat River valley, while a frontal band moved north across the Southeast Alaska panhandle with warm, moist air aloft on 11/25 and 11/26. Overrunning heavy snow persisted during that time.
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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 25, 5:15 AM AKST, 7 hours 45 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
515 AM AKST WED NOV 25 2009
.SHORT TERM...A 975 MB LOW THIS MORNING ABOUT 53N/141W BASED ON
SATELLITE IS CONTINUING TO MOVE NORTH AND WEAKEN THEN IS EXPECTED
TO MOVE ONSHORE BETWEEN YAKUTAT BAY AND CROSS SOUND. STRONG GUSTY
WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE 40 MPH ALONG THE SOUTHERN COASTAL AREAS
AND INTO THE SOUTHERN INNER CHANNELS THROUGH MIDDAY AND INTO THE
EVENING HOURS. THE UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL WEAKEN INTO A TROUGH
WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND BE LIFTED THROUGH THE PANHANDLE LATER PORTION
OF THE TONIGHT PERIOD. THERE IS SOME MINOR COLD AIR ADVECTION
SPREADING ACROSS THE THE GULF.
A WEAK RIDGE IS BEING BUILT UP OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF THE GULF
IN ADVANCE OF THE NEXT FRONTAL BAND SPREADING EAST FROM THE
BEARING SEA.
PRECIPITATION WILL BE SHOWERS ACROSS THE PANHANDLE AS THE MAIN
FRONT HAS GONE ALOFT AND DISSIPATED...WITH THE SECOND WRAP AND
RESIDUAL MOISTURE WILL BE KEEPING THE SHOWERS GOING. INSTABILITY
IN THE DRY SLOT OF THE LOW WEST OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTES HAS AND
CREATING SOME ISOLATED THUNDER GENERALLY WEST OF AND UP TO THE
COAST OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTES. SOME OF THE STORMS HAVE MOVED INTO
THE MARINE ZONE 041 THIS MORNING AND SOUTHERN HALF OF PRINCE OF
WALES ISLAND AND SOUTHERN CLARENCE STRAIT NORTH TO AROUND BEHM
CANAL. BY MIDDAY MOST OF THE INSTABILITY WILL HAVE MOVED EAST AND
THE ISOLATED THUNDER SHOULD BE OVER.
FORECAST GRIDS WERE MODIFIED WITH A BLEND OF THE GFS40 AND
NAM12 THROUGH TONIGHT.
.LONG TERM...990MB CONTINUES TO FILL AND TRANSITIONS INTO A
TROUGH AS IT CONTINUES TO MOVE NORTHEAST INTO CANADA AT HAND OFF
WITH SHORT TERM DESK ON THURSDAY. TROUGH CONTINUES TO MOVE INLAND
BRINGING LIKELY TO CATEGORICAL POPS TO MOST OF THE PANHANDLE.
1000MB TO 850MB THICKNESS VALUES CONTINUE TO HOVER JUST ABOVE 1290
FOR ALL BUT NORTHERNMOST ZONES. 850 MB TEMPS ABOVE -5C FOR ALL BUT
NORTHERN MOST ZONES AS WELL. EXPECT RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS TO
TRANSITION TO ALL RAIN BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON FOR PAYA...PAHN AND
PAGY WHILE RAIN SHOWERS WILL BE THE RULE FOR THE REST OF THE
PANHANDLE ON TURKEY DAY. A WEAK RIDGE BUILDS IN LATE THURSDAY INTO
FRIDAY AHEAD OF THE NEXT GALE FORCE LOW THAT MOVES OUT OF THE
NORTHERN PACIFIC INTO THE NORTHWESTERN GULF ON FRIDAY. GALE FORCE
WINDS AGAIN ON TAP FOR OUTSIDE AND OFF SHORE WATERS. MINIMAL STORM
FORCE POSSIBLE AS BARRIER JET FORMS OVER WESTERN PART OF MZ 52
LATE THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING. MAIN ENERGY FOR THIS
STORM REMAINS WELL WEST OF THE PANHANDLE BUT THE SYSTEM DOES WRAP
A FRONT THROUGH THE PANHANDLE FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THE FRONT WILL
RAPIDLY WEAKEN AS IT MOVES INLAND BUT AN UPTICK IN WINDS AND POP
IS EXPECTED ON FRIDAY WITH FROPA.
MUCH STRONGER SYSTEM MOVES INTO THE SOUTHWESTERN GULF AS A 954MB
LOW WITH THE GFS OR AS A 965 WITH THE ECMWF LATE SATURDAY AND
SUNDAY. CONSIDERABLE DIFFERENCES EXIST ON STORM TRACK STRENGTH
AND TIMING WITH THE MODELS. ECMWF IS MUCH FASTER WITH THE LOW IN
THE CENTRAL GULF BY 00Z SUNDAY WHILE THE GFS IS SLOWER AND DEEPER
WITH HE LOW STILL IN THE SOUTHWESTERN GULF. ECMWF TAKES THE LOW
INTO PWS AS A 976MB 12Z SUNDAY WHILE THE GFS TRACKS THE LOW
INLAND NEAR PAYA 6Z ON MONDAY. OPTED TO MAKE MINIMAL UPDATES TO
OFFICIAL GRIDS PAST SUNDAY. RELIED HEAVILY ON HPC GUIDANCE WHICH
BLENDED WELL WITH AFC AND MADE MINIMAL CHANGES TO CONTINUITY.
GLOBAL MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE THAT A LONGWAVE TROUGH WILL
REMAIN OVER THE BERING SEA AND AK PENINSULA THROUGH THE WEEKEND
WITH A TRANSITION TO A MORE AMPLIFIED PATTERN WITH DEEP TROUGH
RETROGRADING INTO NORTHEAST ASIA WHILE A STRONG RIDGE BUILDS OVER
THE PANHANDLE AND WESTERN NORTH AMERICA BY EARLY TO THE MIDDLE OF
NEXT WEEK.
RELATIVE MEASURES OF PREDICTABILITY ARE REASONABLE INTO NEXT
WEEK FOR THE RIDGE TO DEVELOP IN THE NORTHEASTERN PACIFIC OR OVER
WESTERN NORTH AMERICA HOWEVER THERE IS STILL CONSIDERABLE
UNCERTAINTY ON WHERE EXACTLY THE RIDGE WILL SET UP...HOW STRONG
IT WILL BE AND HOW LONG IT WILL LAST. PLACEMENT OF THE RIDGE AXIS
WILL DETERMINE HOW WET NEXT WEEK WILL BE. A RIDGE AXIS OVERHEAD
WOULD OR SLIGHTLY TO THE WEST OF THE PANHANDLE WOULD BE A DRYER
PATTERN AS A LONG FETCH OF LOW LATITUDE MOISTURE WOULD BE SHUNTED
TO THE WEST. A RIDGE AXIS FURTHER TO THE EAST WOULD ALLOW A MORE
WET PATTERN. FORECAST CONFIDENCE IS ABOVE AVERAGE THROUGH SUNDAY
BUT FALLS TO BELOW AVERAGE AFTER SUNDAY.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT AKST TONIGHT FOR AKZ027.
WIND ADVISORY FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO MIDNIGHT AKST TONIGHT
FOR AKZ023.
WIND ADVISORY FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 6 PM AKST THIS EVENING
FOR AKZ028.
MARINE...GALE WARNING FOR PKZ022-033-036-041>043-051-052.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ011>013-021-031-032-034-035.
&&
BEZENEK/CCC1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
The COOP observer at the Haines Custom station measured 14 inches of new snowfall|for 24 hours ending at 0700 on 11/26. Based on surface observations in the area, the heavier snowfall fell during the day into the next morning. The snowfall was wet and changed to rain the morning of the 26th.
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, November 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: 201033.