High pressure was well established over the Canadian NW Territories into British Columbia on October 12th and 13th. |On the afternoon of 10/13, the High began to move SE.
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.
High pressure was well established over the Canadian NW Territories into British Columbia on October 12th and 13th. Many areas of SE Alaska experienced their first hard freezes under clear skies during the late night and morning hours on those days.|On the afternoon of 10/13, the High began to move SE. This combined with a gale force Low off Vancouver Island caused Taku winds in Juneau.
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 Oct 11, 1:17 PM AKST, 14 hours 43 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK 217 PM AKDT SUN OCT 11 2009 .SHORT TERM...THE LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THE PANHANDLE UNDER MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES WITH NO PRECIPITATION BEING REPORTED AT ANY WEATHER STATIONS. WINDS ACROSS THE REGION THIS MORNING ARE FAIRLY LIGHT WITH A WEAK PRESSURE GRADIENT BUT THE WINDS ARE BEGINNING TO INCREASE OVER THE FAR NORTHERN AREAS. THE MID-LEVEL FLOW IS VEERING TO THE EAST AND IS INCREASING THE OFFSHORE FLOW. THIS IS EVIDENT FROM SATELLITE IMAGERY AS CLOUDS ARE DECREASING AS DRIER AIR IS BEING ADVECTED OVER THE PANHANDLE. THE CLOUDS WILL SLOWLY BREAK UP AND SKIES WILL BECOME PARTLY CLOUDY THROUGH THE EVENING AND BE MOSTLY SUNNY ON MON. WITH THE SKIES CLEARING OUT...TEMPS TONIGHT WILL FALL INTO THE LOWER 30S AND AREAS OF FROST WILL OCCUR OVER MOST OF THE PANHANDLE. FROST ADVY WILL BE ISSUED FOR THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE PANHANDLE AND THE HAINES AREA. THE COASTAL AREAS WILL NOT BE THAT COLD AND THE REST OF THE PANHANDLE HAS ALREADY HAD A KILLING FROST BUT WILL MENTION AREA OF FROST FOR TONIGHT AND MON MORNING. THE SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE OVER CANADA WILL BUILD WESTWARD AND INCREASE THE PRESSURE GRADIENT. THIS WILL INCREASE WINDS FROM INTERIOR GAPS OVER MARINE AREAS ADJACENT TO THE COAST MOUNTAINS. WINDS OVER EAST/WEST CHANNELS WILL INCREASE THROUGH TONIGHT TO 20KT AND CONTINUE TO REACH MIN SMALL CRAFT THROUGH MON. ALSO WINDS IN LYNN CANAL WILL INCREASE TO SMALL CRAFT TONIGHT AND PERSIST THROUGH MON AFTERNOON. PAGY WILL BECOME BREEZY TONIGHT WITH THE INCREASE PRESSURE GRADIENT AND GUSTS TO 35 MPH WILL DEVELOP NEAR THERE THROUGH MON. && .LONG TERM...VERY GOOD UPPER LEVEL AGREEMENT THROUGH THE WEEK IN SPITE OF AN UNUSUAL PATTERN INVOLVING STRONG...RETROGRADING UPPER LOW THAT IS PROJECTED TO MOVE SOUTHWEST OUT OF ALBERTA ON MONDAY AND THEN INTENSIFY AFTER MOVING OFFSHORE OVER THE DIXON ENTRANCE ON TUESDAY. SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WRT THE DISPOSITION OF THIS FEATURE DO NOT ARISE UNTIL NEXT WEEKEND. SOME GFS ENSEMBLE SPREAD DOES EXIST...BUT CURRENT OPERATIONAL GFS AND ECMWF RUNS IN BETTER AGREEMENT THAN EITHER ARE WITH THE GFS ENSEMBLE MEAN. FARTHER WEST...A MUCH WEAKER UPPER LOW NEAR 50N/160W WITH SURFACE REFLECTION IS FORECAST TO TRACK RAPIDLY TO THE EAST AND MERGE WITH THE ALBERTA LOW SW OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTES. AT THAT TIME...THE MERGED COMPLEX WILL BEGIN TO INTENSIFY AND AS OF THIS MORNING...SEA LEVEL PRESSURE IS FORECAST TO BOTTOM OUT IN THE UPPER 960S OR LOW 970S BY MID WEEK. AFTER MAX INTENSITY...ECMWF KEEPS THIS FEATURE SLIGHTLY DEEPER AND SLIGHTLY FARTHER NORTH THAN GFS...GENERALLY ALONG 140W...BUT THEN VERY ABRUPTLY FILLS IT NEAR DRY BAY EARLY IN THE WEEKEND. MAIN FORECAST ISSUE IN THE EXTENDED RANGE WILL BE WIND INTENSITY AND DURATION. THE BEGINNING OF A WIND EVENT WILL ALREADY BE IN PROGRESS IN THE SOUTHERN ZONES UNDER A STRONG NORTHEASTERLY PRESSURE GRADIENT AND A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF LOW AND MID LEVEL COLD AIR ADVECTION INTO THE PANHANDLE FROM CANADA. THIS WILL ALSO RESULT IN PARTLY CLOUDY TO MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THE WEEK WHICH WILL RESULT IN MID 20S TO LOW 30S THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. OVERNIGHT TEMPS WILL SLOWLY REBOUND TO MORE SEASONAL VALUES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK. BY TUESDAY MORNING...STRONG OFFSHORE WINDS WILL HAVE SPREAD AS FAR NORTH AS TRACEY ARM OR SO WITH GALE FORCE GUSTS OUT OF INTERIOR PASSES OVER THE INNER CHANNELS. NORTHEASTERLY GALES IN THE SOUTHERN COASTAL MARINE ZONES AS WELL. BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON PEAK WINDS WILL HAVE REACHED THE NORTHERN INNER CHANNELS AND CROSS BARRIER FLOW WILL BE MAXED OUT OVER THE JUNEAU AREA...BUT STILL NOT SEEING A SIGNIFICANT CRITICAL LAYER OR INVERSION SET UP UNTIL LATE TUESDAY NIGHT WHICH IS ALSO ABOUT THE TIME THAT A RELATIVE MAXIMA IN THE MID LEVEL VORTICITY FIELD WILL BISECT THE PANHANDLE. OFFSHORE WINDS OVER THE INNER CHANNELS SLOWLY RELAX OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS HOWEVER A SECOND ROUND OF GALE FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED OVER THE SOUTHERN COASTAL MARINE ZONES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK AS THE SURFACE LOW TRACKS TO THE NORTH ALONG 140W. NOT A LOT OF POP IN THE EXTENDED RANGE FORECAST BUT THE SNOW LEVEL WILL BE COMING DOWN QUITE LOW. NOT EXPECTING ANY SNOW NEAR SEA LEVEL...BUT THERE WILL BE SOME FRESH SNOW LOWER ON THE MOUNTAINS THAN WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR THIS AUTUMN. .AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PUBLIC...FROST ADVISORY FROM 1 AM TO 7 AM AKDT MONDAY FOR AKZ019-024-26>029. MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ012-013-021-022-031-035-041. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY DUE TO SEAS FOR PKZ042-043-051-052. && ABJ/FRITSCH
4 frost/freeze, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A low temperature of 28F was observed at the Ketchikan Airport ASOS (PAKT) at 0448 AKST on 10/12. Outlying areas, especially further away from Tongass Narrows, had estimated minimum temperatures to 23F.
The minimum temperature on 10/12 for the Hyder was 29F during the early morning hours. The estimated temperatures for outlying areas were in the lower 20s.
Haines Airport AWOS (PAHN) observed a minimum temperature of 29F on 10/13 during the early morning hours. Outlying areas further from Lynn Canal had estimated minimum temperatures in the lower 20s.
Petersburg Airport AWOS (PAPG) observed a minimum temperature of 27F at 0448 AKST on 10/13. Outlying areas had estimated minimum temperatures in the lower 20s during that morning.
The South Douglas wind profiler surface wind measured a peak gust of 63 KT at 0100 AKST on 10/14. Numerous gusts in the 50s were observed throughout the night of 10/13 into the morning of 10/14.
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, October 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: 199325, 199328, 199332, 199342, 199353.