Name: Blizzard in Alaska, January 28 to 29, 2010
Start: 2010-01-28T11:00
End: 2010-01-29T19:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 1054 mb high off the arctic coast combined with areas of low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska and eastern Bering Sea to produce a strong pressure gradient along the Beaufort Sea Coast. A northeast wind of 25 to 40 mph along the central Beaufort Sea Coast, and 35 to 50 mph along the eastern Beaufort Sea coast produced significant blowing and drifting snow and reduced to visibility to one quarter mile or less. White-out conditions were observed at times. A peak wind gust of 47 kt/54 mph was observed at the Deadhorse ASOS, and a peak wind gust of 56 kt/64 mph was observed at the Barter Island AWSS. Once the blizzard conditions ended at Barter Island late on the afternoon of the 29th, the wind continued to frequently gust in excess of 50 mph, and near blizzard conditions continued at times through the early morning hours of the 30th. According to public accounts from Barter Island the day after the storm, conditions were not nearly as severe during this blizzard as they were during the blizzard in early January. The snowdrifts were only about half as high as they were during the previous blizzard, and there were no known power outages.

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 28, 4:28 AM AKST, 6 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 28, 4:28 AM AKST, 6 hours 32 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
428 AM AKST THU JAN 28 2010

.DISCUSSION...
THE MODELS ARE REASONABLE SIMILAR IN THE SHORT TERM AS WELL AS
DURING THE START OF THE MEDIUM RANGE.  MODEL SPREAD INCREASES EARLY
TO MID NEXT WEEK.

A STRONG 1050+ MB SURFACE RIDGE COVERS THE ARCTIC WATERS AND WILL
SLOWLY ELONGATE DURING THE NEXT 24 TO 48 HOURS TO COVER A LARGE AREA
FROM THE EASTERN SIBERIAN ISLANDS TO NEAR THE GREAT SLAVE LAKE IN
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES.  DURING THE SAME TIME A NORTH PACIFIC LOW
WILL LIFT NORTH INTO THE WESTERN GULF OF ALASKA AND GRADUALLY WEAKEN
FRIDAY ACROSS THE AK PENINSULA. THE SQUEEZE WILL BE ON BETWEEN
THESE TWO FEATURES WITH A MODERATELY STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT ACROSS
NORTHERN ALASKA THAT WILL WEAKEN BY FRIDAY NIGHT AS THE LOW
DISSIPATES AND THE RIDGE WEAKENS.

COLD AIR ASSOCIATED WITH THE SURFACE RIDGE WILL ONLY SPILL ABOUT AS
FAR SOUTH AS THE THE BROOKS RANGE. THE COMBINATION OF THE COLD AIR
AND INCREASING WIND WILL LEAD TO ISSUES WITH LOW WIND CHILLS AND
BLOWING SNOW THROUGH AT LEAST FRIDAY.

ALOFT...A CLOSED RIDGE ACROSS EASTERN RUSSIA WILL LIFT NORTH AND
ELONGATE OUT ACROSS THE ARCTIC WATERS LATE THIS WEEK BEFORE
RETREATING WEST THIS WEEKEND. A CLOSED LOW ACROSS THE NORTON SOUND
WILL DEEPEN AND MOVE OFF INTO THE CENTRAL BERING SEA BY FRIDAY
BEFORE RETREATING BACK INTO SIBERIA AND WEAKENING THIS WEEKEND.

THE MODELS DIFFER SOME HEADING INTO THE MEDIUM RANGE...BUT OVERALL
AGREEMENT IS NOT ALL THAT BAD...AND THE NCEP RMOP VALUES ARE AROUND
AVERAGE.  THERE IS GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT A RIDGE BUILDS NORTH INTO
MAINLAND AK EARLY NEXT WEEK...BUT WHETHER OR NOT THE RIDGE GETS
PINCHED OFF INTO A CLOSED CENTER REMAINS IN DOUBT. THERE ARE ALSO
INDICATIONS THAT SOME COLDER AIR MAY DROP SOUTH INTO EASTERN
ALASKA ASSOCIATED WITH A DEEP UPPER LOW IN NORTHERN CANADA...AND
THAT AN ADDITIONAL UPPER LOW MAY APPROACH THE STATE FROM THE NORTHWEST
TOWARDS THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.  OVERALL THE PATTERN SHOULD FEATURE
NEAR TO ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WITH LITTLE THREAT OF SIGNIFICANT
SNOWFALL. THE BEST CHANCE OF ANY SIGNIFICANT COOLING WILL LIKELY BE
NORTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE AND POSSIBLY ACROSS THE EASTERN INTERIOR.

&&

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

WIND CHILL WARNING FOR AKZ201.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ201-AKZ205-AKZ206-AKZ217-AKZ218-
AKZ219-AKZ220.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ230-PKZ235-PKZ240-PKZ245.
&&

CF JAN 10

Event by event

2 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Central Beaufort Sea Coast

When: January 28, 11:00 AM AKST to January 29, 7:00 PM AKST
Where: Central Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

Blizzard, Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast

When: January 29, 1:00 AM AKST to 4:00 PM AKST
Where: Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 203863, 203864.