Alaska, 2010

Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 27 to 28, 2010

January 27 to 28, 2010 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The combination of a 1053 mb high centered a few hundred miles north of Barrow and a 987 mb low in the western Gulf of Alaska produced northeast winds of 15 to 30 mph along the western Arctic Coast. The wind combined with temperatures of 30 to 35 below to produce wind chills as low as 70 below at Point Lay, and 62 below 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.

The combination of a 1053 mb high centered a few hundred miles north of Barrow and a 987 mb low in the western Gulf of Alaska produced northeast winds of 15 to 30 mph along the western Arctic Coast. The wind combined with temperatures of 30 to 35 below to produce wind chills as low as 70 below at Point Lay, and 62 below at the Atqasuk AWSS. The wind chills at Point Lay were estimated based on the temperature and strength of the pressure gradient as the anemometer at the Point Lay AWOS was inoperable during this event.

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 27, 4:38 PM AKST, 3 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 4:38 PM AKST, 3 hours 18 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
438 PM AKST WED JAN 27 2010

.DISCUSSION...
A CLASSICAL AND RATHER FAMILIAR PINCH SITUATION CONTINUES TO
DEVELOP HAS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN OVER THE CHUKCHI AND BEAUFORT
SEAS...AND PRESSURE FALLS OVER THE NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA. COLD
ADVECTION IS OVER OR NEARLY SO FOR ZONES 201-203 BUT CONTINUES
OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE ARCTIC ZONES TONIGHT... AND MODEST COLD
ADVECTION IS EXPECTED OVER THE NORTHERN INTERIOR THROUGH ABOUT
THIS TIME THURSDAY. MEANWHILE...THE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL CONTINUE TO
INCREASE (AT LEAST TONIGHT) OVER MOST OF NORTHERN ALASKA (THOUGH
IT IS GETTING NEAR ITS MAXIMUM IN ZONE 213).

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ202-AKZ203-AKZ207-AKZ213.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ201-AKZ205-AKZ206-AKZ217-AKZ218-
AKZ219.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230-
PKZ240-PKZ245.
&&

DJH JAN 10

Event by event

1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Western Arctic Coast

When
January 27, 7:56 PM AKST to January 28, 9:56 AM AKST
Where
Western Arctic Coast forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS

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

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 203855.