Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait
- When
- December 2, 11:00 PM AKST to December 3, 5:16 AM AKST
- Where
- St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS
Blizzard in Alaska, December 2 to 3, 2010
A 975 mb low passed a few hundred miles south of Saint Lawrence Island during the morning of the 3rd. The low combined with a 1032 mb high across the Chukchi Sea to produce strong winds and blizzard conditions at Gambell from late on the evening of the 2nd through the early morning hours on the 3rd.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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 975 mb low passed a few hundred miles south of Saint Lawrence Island during the morning of the 3rd. The low combined with a 1032 mb high across the Chukchi Sea to produce strong winds and blizzard conditions at Gambell from late on the evening of the 2nd through the early morning hours on the 3rd. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less. Northeast winds were sustained at 35 to 43 mph with a peak wind gust of 46 kt (53 mph).
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 Dec 2, 3:08 PM AKST, 7 hours 52 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 2, 3:08 PM AKST, 7 hours 52 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 308 PM AKST THU DEC 2 2010 .DISCUSSION... A STRONG 973 MB LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM 500 NM SOUTHWEST OF SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND WILL MOVE ACROSS THE CENTRAL BERING SEA TONIGHT AND TO NEAR NUNIVAK ISLAND ON FRIDAY. A STRONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW WILL BRING SNOW AND STRONG WINDS TO SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. SURFACE...THE LOW WILL REMAIN A 975-980 MB LOW AS IT MOVES TO NEAR NUNIVAK ISLAND BY 00Z SAT AND THEN CROSSES THE AK PENINSULA SAT AND MOVES INTO THE WESTERN GULF/KODIAK ISLAND AREA SAT NIGHT. WEST COAST..THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR 6 INCHES OR MORE OF SNOWFALL THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. IN ADDITION...AN EAST WIND OF 35 TO 50 MPH WILL PRODUCE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND PRODUCE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AT TIMES. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO RISE TO NEAR FREEZING AS THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY PUSHES THROUGH AND THE MILDER TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY PREVENT ANY BLIZZARD CONDITIONS FROM LASTING INTO FRIDAY AFTERNOON. BLIZZARD WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR ZONES 213 AND 214. WINTER STORM WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR ZONES 212 AND ZONES 215. A WINTER STORM WATCH IS STILL IN EFFECT FOR ZONE 216. THE SNOW WILL SPREAD INTO THAT ZONE ON FRIDAY. SNOW WILL THEN SPREAD NORTH INTO ZONES 207-209 AND 217 LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON. INTERIOR...AS THE FRONT MOVES INLAND, SNOW WILL BEGIN TO SPREAD INTO WESTERN ZONE 221 AND 220 LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY. SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW COULD FALL WITH THIS FRONT. WINTER WX ADVISORIES MAY BE NEEEDED FOR FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AS CHINOOK FLOW KICKS IN FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND IS FOLLOWED BY CLOUDS AND SNOW. NORTH SLOPE...SOME FLURRIES OR SNOW SHOWERS ALONG PARTS OF THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST AND INTO THE WESTERN BROOKS RANGE WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH A WEAKENING SHORTWAVE TROUGH THAT WILL BE PASSING SOUTH OF THE AREA. NO SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED ANYWHERE ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE THE NEXT FEW DAYS AS THE BERING SEA LOW MOVES TOWARD KODIAK AND A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS WELL OFFSHORE. THIS MAY LEAD TO SOME BRISK WINDS ACROSS THE ARCTIC MARINE AREAS BY FRIDAY NIGHT OR SAT MORNING...BUT WITH NO NEW SNOW ON THE HORIZON...AND THE WIND NOT EXPECTED TO BE ALL THAT STRONG IT IS UNLIKELY THERE WILL BE ANY SIGNIFICANT ISSUES WITH BLOWING SNOW. MEDIUM RANGE...GOOD AGREEMENT THAT THE PERIOD WILL BE ONE OF MERIDIONAL FLOW WITH A STRONG RIDGE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN BERING AS THE MAINLAND IS LOCKED UNDER A TROUGH WITH A DEEP ANCHORING LOW IN THE GULF. THIS WILL MEAN A FAIRLY COLD AIRMASS...BUT WITH LOT OF STATUS THAT WILL KEEP TEMPS FROM GETTING AS COLD AS DURING OUR CURRENT BRIEF COLD SNAP. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ224. WINTER STORM WARNING FOR AKZ212-AKZ215. BLIZZARD WARNING FOR AKZ213-AKZ214. WINTER STORM WATCH FOR AKZ216. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING FOR PKZ210. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230. && JK DEC 10
Event by event
1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Blizzard
- Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, December 2, 2010
- High Surf in Hawaii, December 2 to 4, 2010
- Blizzard and Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 2 to 4, 2010
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 2 to 3, 2010
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 2, 2010
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 2, 2010
- High Wind in Wyoming, December 2, 2010
- Flood in New Hampshire, December 2, 2010
- Winter Storm in Wyoming, December 2 to 3, 2010
- Winter Storm in Montana, December 2 to 3, 2010
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2010
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: 265196.