Blizzard and Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 4 to 5, 2010

Name: Blizzard and Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 4 to 5, 2010
Start: 2010-01-04T05:00
End: 2010-01-05T18:00
Location: Alaska

January 4 to 5, 2010 · NWS AFG · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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 968 mb low near the central Aleutians combined with a strong ridge of high pressure across eastern Russia to produce blizzard conditions at Gambell on Saint Lawrence Island as well as at Cape Romanzoff along the Yukon Delta Coast. Heavy snow was observed at Mountain Village along the Yukon Delta. Heavy snowfall was also observed at Shageluk in the lower Yukon Valley, and at Shaktoolik along the eastern Norton Sound. A disturbance developed along a frontal boundary that extended from the low into Norton Sound, and produced heavy snowfall along parts of the Seward Peninsula. Eight inches of snow was observed at Buckland.

Zone 210: Snow fell at Buckland from about 10 pm AKST on the 4th and continued until about 6 pm AKST on the 5th. Some of the snow fell heavily at times, and a total of 8 inches of snow was observed at Buckland.

Zone 212: Heavy snow fell along parts of the eastern Norton Sound Coast. It was estimated that 5 to 10 inches of snow fell at Shaktoolik. The amount of snow that fell was nearly impossible to measure due to significant blowing and drifting snow. Snow drifts of at least 4 feet were observed by the morning of the 5th as the storm ended.

Zone 213: Blizzard conditions were observed at Gambell on Saint Lawrence Island from 4 am AKST until 2 pm AKST on the 4th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. The wind at the Gambell AWOS gusted as high as 49kt/56 mph.

Zone 214: Heavy snowfall was observed at Mountain Village with a storm total of 8 to 9 inches. Blizzard conditions were observed at Cape Romanzof along the coast during the late morning and early afternoon hours on the 4th. The visibility was reduced to less than one quarter or a mile, and the wind gusted as high as 45kt/52 mph at the Cape Romanzof AWOS.

Zone 215: Heavy snowfall was observed at Shageluk with a storm total of approximately 6 inches. The amount of snow that fell was difficult to measure due to extensive drifting of the snow that fell.

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 4, 2:13 AM AKST, 2 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 4, 2:13 AM AKST, 2 hours 47 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
213 AM AKST MON JAN 4 2010

.DISCUSSION...
CURRENT RUNS OF THE GFS/NAM/ECMWF SHOWING GENERALLY SIMILAR 500 MB
HEIGHTS/850 MB TEMPERATURES/SEA LEVEL PRESSURE FIELDS THROUGH 12Z
WED. STRONG SURFACE LOW NOW NEAR 50N/168W WILL REMAIN SOUTH OF THE
ALEUTIAN CHAIN...BUT WINDS OVER THE NORTHERN BERING SEA/ WEST
COAST/WESTERN ALASKA COASTAL WATERS WILL INCREASE AS THE ASSOCIATED
FRONTAL SYSTEM MOVES NORTH. IR LOOP SUGGESTS SIGNIFICANT MOISTURE
FEED WITH THE SYSTEM. ONGOING WINTER STORM OR BLIZZARD WATCHES IN
ZONES 212-213-214-215-216 WILL BE UPGRADED TO WARNINGS... AND NEW
WINTER STORM WATCHES WILL BE POSTED FOR ZONES 210-211. 12 HR SNOW
AMOUNTS AND COVERAGE AREA FROM THE GFS/NAM95 ARE IN GENERAL
AGREEMENT FOR MON NIGHT AND TUE. ST LAWRENCE ISLAND AND THE
BERING STRAIT WILL LIKELY SEE AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF BRISK NORTH
WINDS...LASTING AT LEAST INTO FRIDAY.

OVER WEST COAST AREAS FARTHER TO THE EAST...WINDS WILL DIMINISH BY
TUE AFTER THE FRONT PASSES...BUT INCREASE AGAIN WED NIGHT AND THU
AS HIGH PRESSURE OVER RUSSIA BUILDS EASTWARD AND ANOTHER STORM
MOVES INTO THE NORTHWEST GULF OF ALASKA...INCREASING THE OVERALL
PRESSURE GRADIENT OVER THE WEST COAST AND NORTHERN BERING.

MEDIUM RANGE OUTLOOK...A COLD UPPER LOW IS EXPECTED TO TRANSIT
EASTWARD ACROSS THE NORTHERN RUSSIA COAST/CHUKCHI SEA/ARCTIC
OCEAN...REACHING THE CANADIAN ARCHIPELAGO BY THE END OF THE WEEK.
THIS SYSTEM WILL LIKELY BRING COLDER AIR TO THE BROOKS RANGE AND
NORTHWARD. HIGH PRESSURE RIDGING WILL LIKELY REMAIN DOMINANT OVER
SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE FORECAST AREA...WITH TEMPERATURES LIKELY
BEING NEAR TO A LITTLE ABOVE NORMAL. DEVELOPMENT OF A MODERATE
SURFACE SYSTEM OVER THE EASTERN ARCTIC OCEAN THU NIGHT AND
FRI COULD BRING A PERIOD OF STRONG WEST WINDS AND POSSIBLY
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS TO ZONES 203-204.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR AKZ212-AKZ214-AKZ215-AKZ216.

BLIZZARD WARNING FOR AKZ213.

WINTER STORM WATCH FOR AKZ210-AKZ211.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ220.
&&

RF JAN 10

Event by event

4 heavy snow, 1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Lower Yukon Valley

When: January 4, 5:00 AM AKST to January 5, 5:00 AM AKST
Where: Lower Yukon Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Heavy Snow, Yukon Delta

When: January 4, 8:00 AM AKST to January 5, 12:30 AM AKST
Where: Yukon Delta forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Heavy Snow, Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills

When: January 4, 3:00 PM AKST to January 5, 6:00 AM AKST
Where: Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Heavy Snow, Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula

When: January 4, 10:00 PM AKST to January 5, 6:00 PM AKST
Where: Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula forecast zone
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: January 5, 4:00 AM AKST to 2:00 PM AKST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
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

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: 201173, 201172, 201174, 201170, 201171.