Cold arctic air was being held in place over the northern portion of Lynn Canal. South flow in the lower levels of the atmosphere was moving warm moist air over the panhandle.
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.
Cold arctic air was being held in place over the northern portion of Lynn Canal. South flow in the lower levels of the atmosphere was moving warm moist air over the panhandle. This resulted in a burst of heavy snow in Haines in the morning hours of 1/7, before it warmed sufficiently to change the snow to liquid, however persistent cold air at the surface continued through the morning of 1/8, so the rain was freezing on the surface in Haines causing minor ice accumulations through 0800 AKST 1/8.
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 Jan 7, 5:12 AM AKST, 48 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
512 AM AKST THU JAN 7 2010
.SHORT TERM...A FAIRLY STRONG OCCLUDED FRONT OVER THE ERN GULF
WILL STALL THERE BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AS LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS
TO THE S. THE LOW WILL MOVE N INTO THE SE GULF THIS
EVENING...THEN HEAD NW FOR THE NRN GULF LATE TONIGHT. THE MAIN
MODEL PREFERENCE WAS THE 00Z ECMWF BUT THE 06Z GFS CAME IN CLOSE
TO IT AND IS MUCH EASIER TO USE SHORT TERM SO USED THE 06Z GFS
FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT.
MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS WILL BE POTENTIAL FOR FREEZING RAIN OVER
THE FAR N...AND WINDS. COLD AIR REMAINS OVER THE FAR NRN AREA AND
WILL BE SLOW TO ERODE AWAY AS LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL REMAIN NLY
THROUGH TONIGHT. MEANWHILE...AN ELEVATED ABOVE FREEZING LAYER
WILL LIKELY MOVE INTO THE PAHN AREA BY LATE MORNING...AND REMAIN
THERE INTO TONIGHT. THIS WILL CAUSE SNOW TO AT LEAST MIX WITH
FREEZING RAIN BY LATE MORNING FROM PAHN SWD...THEN THE CHILKAT
VALLEY SHOULD SEE FREEZING RAIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
BASED ON QPF...LOOKS LIKE THERE WILL BE ABOUT ONE HALF INCH OF
ICE WITH MUCH OF THIS FALLING LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
HAVE ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE PAHN ZONE BEGINNING AT
19Z THIS MORNING...AND CONTINUING UNTIL 14Z FRI. THE PAGY AREA
WILL LIKELY REMAIN SNOW AS THE MAIN TRAJECTORY FOR THE ABOVE
FREEZING LAYER ALOFT SHOULD REMAIN S OF PAGY. THEY MAY GET
SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW TODAY AND TONIGHT...BUT BELIEVE IT WILL
REMAIN BELOW ADVY LEVELS.
AS FOR THE WINDS...ALREADY GETTING NEAR ADVY LEVEL GUSTS AROUND
PAHY AND THOSE SHOULD ONLY INCREASE TODAY. THIS SHOULD GET INTO
THE PAKT/PANT AREAS EARLY THIS MORNING...THEN TO THE PASI AREA BY
MID-MORNING. HAVE KEPT WIND ADVYS GOING FOR THOSE AREAS EXCEPT
ADDED IN 23 FOR THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. ENDED THE ADVY SOONER FOR
28 THOUGH AS THE LOW IS LOOKING TO TRACK BY THAT AREA MORE
QUICKLY THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT. WILL HAVE WIDESPREAD GALES FOR
THE GULF AND PARTS OF THE INNER CHANNELS...WITH SCA FOR THE
REMAINING INNER CHANNEL AREAS EXCEPT GLACIER BAY AND LYNN CANAL.
OTHERWISE...REMAINDER OF THE AREA WILL BE WET AND MOST AREAS
LOCALLY BREEZY TO WINDY. TEMPS WILL BE WELL ABOVE AVERAGE THRU
TONIGHT EXCEPT FOR THE FAR NRN INNER CHANNELS.
&&
.LONG TERM...GOOD UPPER LEVEL MODEL AGREEMENT THROUGH 11/12Z...AT
WHICH TIME ECMWF BISECTS A WEAKENING UPPER LEVEL E-W RIDGE OVER
THE INTERIOR WITH A TROUGH THAT EXTENDS SOUTH AND CONNECTS WITH A
DEEP VORTEX IN THE CENTRAL GULF. FROM THIS POINT FORWARD..ECMWF
MAINTAINS A STRONGER UPPER LOW IN THE NORTHWEST GULF
HOWEVER...OVERALL PATTERNS IN BOTH GFS AND EC REMAIN SIMILAR IN
OTHER RESPECTS THROUGH 15/12Z WHEN BOTH BEGIN WEAKENING THIS
FEATURE OVER COOK INLET AND PUSH A WELL DEFINED UPPER TROUGH
ACROSS THE CENTRAL GULF. ONLY OTHER SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IS A
SHORT WAVE THAT GFS DEVELOPS AND ROTATES AROUND THE BASE OF THE
LONG WAVE TROUGH AND INTO THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE NEXT WEDNESDAY.
THIS FEATURE IS NOT NEARLY AS WELL DEFINED IN ECMWF.
MAIN FEATURES IN THE EXTENDED RANGE FORECAST CONTINUE TO BE WARMER
THAN NORMAL WEATHER WITH RAIN FOR MOST PLACES AND SNOW FOR THE
FAR NORTHERN ZONES. A LONG WAVE TROUGH SETS UP OVER THE GULF WITH
THE RIDGE AXIS FARTHER DOWNSTREAM. A WEAKENING OCCLUDED LOW IN THE
GULF AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EXTENDED RAGE FORECAST WILL ROTATE A
SHORT WAVE AROUND THE BASE OF THE UPPER TROUGH ON FRIDAY AND
GENERATE GALES OVER THE COASTAL MARINE ZONES. THE ASSOCIATED
FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL TEND TO GET LOST IN AN OCCLUDED FRONT
CARRYING OVER FROM THE SHORT TERM PERIOD BUT THE END RESULT WILL
BE THE SAME...RAIN WITH SNOW IN NORTHERN LOCATIONS. SOON
THEREAFTER...A SECOND STRONGER SYSTEM WILL ENTER THE GULF AND PUSH
A FRONT OVER THE PANHANDLE FROM SOUTH TO NORTH ON SUNDAY. PLENTY
OF MOISTURE AND WIND ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM. WIND ADVISORIES
BECOMING MORE LIKELY FOR THE OUTER COAST FROM CAPE SPENCER SOUTH
AS WELL AS THE SOUTHERN ZONES. QPF VALUES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES IN
CURRENT MODEL RUN CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS DAYS THINKING. MOST
LOCATIONS WILL SEE THIS PRECIP AS RAIN...BUT THE ARCTIC FRONT WILL
BE PRESSING SOUTH AT THAT SAME TIME AND...DEPENDING ON HOW FAR
SOUTH THE LOW LEVEL COLD AIR GETS BY THAT TIME...HAINES AND
SKAGWAY COULD SEE SOME VERY HEAVY SNOW. CURRENTLY HAVE 4 TO 6
INCHES IN GRIDS FOR THE FAR NORTHERN INNER CHANNELS BUT AS MUCH AS
18 INCHES NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION.
UPDATED GRIDS THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT WITH A BLEND OF EC...GFS...AND
UKMET. APART FROM THAT...NO SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO GRIDS. FORECAST
CONFIDENCE AVERAGE.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 3 AM AKST FRIDAY FOR AKZ027-028.
WIND ADVISORY FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 3 AM AKST FRIDAY FOR
AKZ023.
WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 5 AM AKST FRIDAY
FOR AKZ019.
MARINE...GALE WARNING FOR PKZ022-036-041>043-051-052.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ021-031>035.
&&
RWT/FRITSCH1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
The Haines ASOS reported heavy snow began roughly around 0500 AKST on 1/7. he coop observer in Haines reported an accumulation of 7.4 inches of snow at 0800 AKST on 1/7. Freezing rain began at the Haines ASOS began at 1318 AKST and continued over night to roughly 0800 on 1/8.
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, January 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: 210791.