Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Western Arctic Coast
- When
- January 10, 7:53 AM AKST to January 11, 12:53 AM AKST
- Where
- Western Arctic Coast forecast zone
- Reported by
- ASOS
Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 10 to 11, 2010
An arctic high that was accompanied by an ample supply of cold air built in along the northern coast of Alaska. Temperatures were observed as low as -36F at the Wainwright ASOS and -42F at the Atqasuk AWSS.
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.
An arctic high that was accompanied by an ample supply of cold air built in along the northern coast of Alaska. Temperatures were observed as low as -36F at the Wainwright ASOS and -42F at the Atqasuk AWSS. The cold temperatures combined with an east wind of 15 to 20 mph to produce wind chills as low as -66F at Wainwright and -74F at Atqasuk. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from the morning hours on the 10th through shortly after midnight on the 11th.
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 Jan 10, 5:20 AM AKST, 2 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 10, 5:20 AM AKST, 2 hours 33 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 520 AM AKST SUN JAN 10 2010 .SYNOPSIS... ALOFT... A RIDGE OVER THE BERING STRAIT WILL PERSIST BUT WEAKEN SLOWLY THROUGH TUE. A SHORT WAVE TROUGH OVER THE NORTHEAST INTERIOR WILL MOVE TO THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR SUN 3PM THEN MOVE EAST INTO CANADA. THIS WILL CAUSE INCREASING WINDS SOUTH OF 65N LATITUDE TODAY. THIS WILL ALSO KEEP FLURRIES IN THE EXTREME SE INTERIOR. SURFACE... A 1041 MB HIGH NEAR BARROW WILL MOVE OVER THE BEAUFORT SEA AND YUKON TERRITORY SUN PM AND THEN PERSIST INTO TUE. THIS WILL CAUSE EAST WINDS TO DEVELOP ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST SUN PM. THIS WILL ALSO CAUSE COLD DRAINAGE WINDS DOWN THE TANANA AND YUKON RIVER TO DEVELOP SUN PM AND CONTINUE INTO TUE. AN OCCLUDED FRONT IN THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL MOVE ALONG THE GULF OF ALASKA COAST MON AND THEN DISSIPATE AS ANOTHER FRONT/LOW MOVES INTO THE NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA. THIS WILL KEEP A STRONG SURFACE GRADIENT OVER THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR. THIS WILL ALSO BRING A CHANCE OF SNOW TO THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR MON PM-TUE. A WEATHER FRONT WEST OF WRANGEL ISLAND WILL MOVE TO THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST OF ALASKA BY 3AM TUE AND TO THE CENTRAL ARCTIC COAST BY 3PM TUE. THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF SNOW WITH THIS. && .DISCUSSION... MODELS INITIALIZE WELL AND SHOW SIMILAR PATTERNS. THE NAM AGAIN DROPS MORE SHORT WAVE ENERGY SOUTH ALONG THE ALCAN BORDER TODAY THAN DOES THE GFS. THE GFS MOVES MORE OF THE SHORT WAVE ENERGY EAST INTO CANADA. WE AGAIN FAVOR THE GFS. THE RESULT IS THAT THE GFS HAS A BIT LESS WIND AT 700 AND 850 MB OVER THE INTERIOR THAT THE NAM. THIS WILL MEAN SLIGHTLY LESS WIND OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR THAN THE NAM WOULD SHOW. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL WATCH FOR AKZ201-AKZ202-AKZ203-AKZ204. WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ201. WIND ADVISORY FOR AKZ215. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ219-AKZ220-AKZ221-AKZ223. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210. && JB JAN 10
Event by event
1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Extreme Cold/Wind Chill
- Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Frost and Freeze in Florida, January 10 to 11, 2010
- High Wind in Alaska, January 10 to 12, 2010
- Blizzard and Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 10 to 13, 2010
- High Wind in Alaska, January 10, 2010
- High Wind in Alaska, January 10, 2010
- Winter Weather in Kentucky, January 10, 2010
- Winter Weather in Michigan, January 10 to 11, 2010
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, January 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 201852.