Warm air aloft moved over a relatively cold pool of air that was trapped in Northern Lynn Canal on 2/6 and 2/7. This resulted in heavy snowfall for the farther NW portion of the Chilkat Highway.
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.
Warm air aloft moved over a relatively cold pool of air that was trapped in Northern Lynn Canal on 2/6 and 2/7. This resulted in heavy snowfall for the farther NW portion of the Chilkat Highway.
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 Feb 5, 1:24 PM AKST, 36 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
124 PM AKST FRI FEB 5 2010
.SHORT TERM...A STRONG UPPER LEVEL RIDGE ACROSS WESTERN CANADA
AND A DEEP LOW OVER THE GULF AND NORTH PACIFIC...WILL KEEP FAST
SE FLOW ALOFT OVER THE PANHANDLE TODAY THAT WEAKENS LATE TONIGHT
AS RIDGE SHIFTS EAST. A 970 MB SURFACE LOW IN THE NORTH PACIFIC
IS FORECAST TO ROTATE AN OCCLUSION THROUGH SOUTHERN SOUTHEAST
ALASKA THIS AFTERNOON AND THEN WEAKEN OVER THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE
TONIGHT. AS THE FRONT ROTATES THROUGH THE NORTHEAST GULF WILL SEE
A LOW LEVEL EASTERLY JET DEVELOP THAT WILL PRODUCE STORM FORCE
WINDS IN OUR COASTAL WATERS. GALE FORCE WINDS EXPECTED THROUGH
SOUTHERN CHANNELS AS WELL AS E-W OCEAN ENTRANCES THROUGH TONIGHT
WITH SOLID SMCR ELSEWHERE. HWW FOR 28 WILL BE DOWNGRADED TO A
WIND ADVISORY ON AFTERNOON UPDATES. ADVISORY LEVEL EAST WINDS ARE
OCCURRING ACROSS SOUTHERN PANHANDLE TODAY BUT EXPECTING WINDS TO
EASE TO JUST BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS OVER CENTRAL AND NORTHERN
TONIGHT.
WITH THE E-SE WIND WILL LIKELY HAVE DOWNSLOPE WARMING THROUGH
MUCH OF THE SOUTHERN ZONES TODAY AND SPREADING TO NORTHERN ZONES
TONIGHT. WITH LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS MIXING OUT THE BOUNDARY LAYER
COULD SEE TEMPERATURES SPIKE IN THE MID 40S TO NEAR 50 THIS
AFTERNOON SOUTH AND OVERNIGHT IN THE NORTH.
PRECIPITATION WILL BE LIMITED INITIALLY WITH STRONG EASTERN
COMPONENT BUT WILL INCREASE LATER TONIGHT AS WIND GOES MORE SLY.
ONLY FAR NORTH COLD ENOUGH FOR SNOW TODAY INTO THIS EVENING BUT
EXPECT TO MIX TO RAIN BY SAT MORNING.
GOOD SYNOPTIC AGREEMENT BETWEEN MODELS IN SHORT TERM BUT THERE
IS SOME POSITIONAL DIFFERENCES WITH SMALLER FEATURES. NAM AND
UKMET CARRY MULTI LOW CENTERS IN EASTERN GULF WITH BANDS MOVING
PANHANDLE. GFS A BIT FARTHER WEST WITH FRONT AND APPEARS TO BE
CORRECT. SO DID NAM/GFS BLEND FOR SHORT TERM GRIDS.
&&
.LONG TERM...MID RANGE MODEL AGREEMENT THAT BEGAN YESTERDAY HAS
DECIDED NOT TO CONTINUE. FOR THE START OF THE LONG TERM REMNANTS
OF FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH GULF LOW MOVING N WILL BRING PRECIP OVER
MOST OF THE PANHANDLE. AFTER THE WARMING TREND SAT CAA FOLLOWING
THE FRONT WILL DROP TEMPS AND WE SHOULD SEE SNOW SAT NIGHT OVER
THE N CENTRAL AREAS. SNOW LVLS ARE DROPPING A BIT SLOWER THAN
PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS SO TRANSITION FORM RAIN TO SNOW MAY TAKE A
BIT LONGER. WITH RELATIVELY LOW QPF MOUNTS AND SHORTER SNOW FALL
DURATION SNOW AMOUNTS WILL ONLY BE 1 TO 2 INCHES...IF THAT. WINDS
CALM DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE LONG
TERM...ONLY EXPECTING SMCR WINDS NEAR THE END OF THE WEEK
OFFSHORE AND NEAR INSIDE WATERS NEAR OCEAN ENTRANCES.
AT THE START OF THE WEEK SYNOPTIC PATTERN SHOWING LONG WAVE
TROUGH MOVING INTO THE W GULF. THIS PARENT LOW IS DEPICTED IN
MOST MODELS BUT THE SMALLER FEATURES ROTATING AROUND IT...ITS
STRENGTH AND SPEED ARE WHERE MODELS DIVERGE SIGNIFICANTLY. WITH
OVER ALL SOUTH EAST FLOW EXPECTING CLOUDY SKIES OVER SE AK WITH
REDUCED PROBABILITY OF PRECIP. AFTER THE COOLING TREND SAT NIGHT
EXPECTING A SLIGHT WARM UP BUT OVER ALL TEMPS MODERATE FOR THE
REST OF THE WEEK.
MODEL CHOICE FOR THE START OF THE LONG TERM OF THE NAM12 WITH
SOME UKMET BLENDED IN FOR PRESS WITH WIND FIELDS USING MAINLY A
BLEND OF INHERITED GRIDS WITH NAM12. GFS RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY
DIMINISHED SIGNIFICANTLY WITH EC AND EC ENSEMBLES LOOKING A BIT
BETTER. USED HPC GUID FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE LONG TERM WITH
LITTLE OVERALL CHANGE AS THEY WENT WITH A BLEND OF EC WITH GFS.
FORECAST CONFIDENCE FOR THE LONG TERM IS BELOW AVERAGE DUE TO
QUESTIONS WITH THE SAT NIGHT SNOW EVENT AND POOR MODEL CONSTANCY
AND AGREEMENT.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 4 PM AKST THIS AFTERNOON FOR
AKZ027.
WIND ADVISORY FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT AKST
TONIGHT
FOR AKZ027.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM AKST THIS EVENING FOR AKZ023.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 4 PM AKST THIS AFTERNOON FOR AKZ018.
HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT
AKST
TONIGHT FOR AKZ017.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT AKST TONIGHT FOR AKZ028.
MARINE...STORM WARNING FOR PKZ041>043-051-052.
GALE WARNING FOR PKZ021-022-033-035-036.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ011>013-031-032-034.
&&
MM/PRB1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Haines Customs observed 12.2 inches of new snow at 0800 AKST on 2/6 and an additional 5.2 inches on 2/7. Haines airport observed freezing rain at times through this period.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 2010
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: 214734.