Blizzard in Alaska, March 13 to 14, 2010

Name: Blizzard in Alaska, March 13 to 14, 2010
Start: 2010-03-13T08:10
End: 2010-03-14T11:00
Location: Alaska

March 13 to 14, 2010 · NWS AFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

An intense storm in the Gulf of Alaska produced strong northwest wind and snow over the western Alaska Peninsula resulting in blizzard conditions from King Cove west.

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 AFC wrote it up.

An intense storm in the Gulf of Alaska produced strong northwest wind and snow over the western Alaska Peninsula resulting in blizzard conditions from King Cove west.

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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 13, 5:00 AM AKST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 13, 5:00 AM AKST, 3 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA
500 AM AKST SAT MAR 13 2010

.MODEL DISCUSSION...
NUMERICAL GUIDANCE IN GOOD AGREEMENT IN THE EARLY PERIODS OF THE
FORECAST. FOR THE EXTENDED...THE ECMWF WAS PREFERRED AGAIN DUE TO
ITS CONSISTENCY AND GOOD AGREEMENT WITH HPC GUIDANCE.

.ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...
DEEP UPPER LOW MOVING INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA FROM THE WEST THIS
MORNING. UPPER TROUGH AXIS OVER THE EASTERN BERING SEA MOVING SLOWLY
SOUTHEASTWARD. SHORT-WAVE RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS WITH
ANOTHER DEEP TROUGH OVER THE SEA OF OKHOTSK MOVING EAST.

.SHORT TERM FORECAST...
THE LOW MOVING INTO THE WESTERN GULF THIS MORNING WILL SETTLE INTO
THE CENTRAL GULF BY LATE TONIGHT. THIS LOW IS BRINGING MOISTURE TO
COASTAL AREAS ALONG THE GULF...AS WELL AS DRAGGING COLD AIR BEHIND
IT ACROSS THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS AND ALASKA PENINSULA. THE UPPER
RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS WILL MOVE EASTWARD OVER THE WEEKEND
AND BEGIN TO BUILD INTO WESTERN ALASKA BY LATER SUNDAY. THE LOW
CURRENTLY OVER THE SEA OF OKHOTSK WILL MOVE EAST AND BEGIN TO AFFECT
THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS ON SATURDAY AND THE CENTRAL ALEUTIANS LATER
SUNDAY INTO MONDAY.

.LONG TERM FORECAST...
THE WESTERN ALASKA RIDGE WILL BUILD EASTWARD EARLY TO MID NEXT WEEK
AND BRING A PERIOD OF DRY WEATHER TO MOST OF SOUTHERN ALASKA. BY
LATER NEXT WEEK THE NUMERICAL GUIDANCE DIVERGES ON HOW THIS RIDGE
WILL BREAK DOWN...AND THE FORECASTS TREND TOWARD CLIMATOLOGY BY THE
END OF THE WEEK.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...BLIZZARD WARNING 181.
         BLIZZARD WATCH 171.
MARINE...STORM WARNING 150.
         GALE WARNING 120 121 130 132 138 140 155 160 165 170 171
                     172 175 176 179 180 185.
         HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY 121 130 138 140 141 150 155 165 170
                     171 172.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

LUDWIG MAR 10

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Alaska Peninsula

When: March 13, 8:10 AM AKST to March 14, 11:00 AM AKST
Where: Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

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

Every storm in Alaska in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 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: 211459.