A storm in the Bering Sea resulted in strong warm and moist southerly fetch off the North Pacific. This warm moist air flowed over entrenched cold air over south central Alaska resulted in freezing rain that deposited over one quarter inch of ice across portions of south central Alaska.
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 AFC wrote it up.
A storm in the Bering Sea resulted in strong warm and moist southerly fetch off the North Pacific. This warm moist air flowed over entrenched cold air over south central Alaska resulted in freezing rain that deposited over one quarter inch of ice across portions of south central Alaska. Freezing rain below warning criteria also fell across the Copper River Basin and the western Kenai Peninsula and isolated portions of northern Prince William Sound.
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 Nov 21, 4:00 PM AKST, 9 hours earlier.
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK 400 PM AKST SUN NOV 21 2010 .MODEL DISCUSSION...MODELS ARE DOING WELL AND ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT FROM THE 12Z RUNS. OFF HOUR RUNS OF THE NAM HAVE BEEN ACCELERATING THE PRECIPITATION IN SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA BUT THE 00Z AND 12Z SLOWER SOLUTIONS ARE MORE REASONABLE. .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...A WARM UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN GULF INTO SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA WILL SLOWLY MOVE EASTWARD AS AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH IN THE BERING SEA BEGINS TO DISPLACE IT. A SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST JET STREAK IS MOVING OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA AND THEN OVER THE TOP OF THIS UPPER LEVEL RIDGE CAUSING ENHANCED PRECIPITATION IN THIS WARM AIRMASS. INVERSIONS THAT HAVE KEPT SURFACE TEMPERATURES COLD HAVE DIMINISHED IN SOUTHWEST ALASKA BUT THE THREAT FOR FREEZING RAIN PERSISTS INLAND TONIGHT. .SHORT TERM FORECAST...STRONG INVERSIONS FOR AREAS IN SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA WILL KEEP THE THREAT OF FREEZING RAIN IN THE AREA FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH AT LEAST NOON TOMORROW. INLAND AREAS IN THE SUSITNA VALLEY ARE LIKELY TO KEEP SOME FREEZING RAIN THROUGHOUT THE DAY TOMORROW. IT IS EXPECTED THAT MOST AREAS WILL WARM UP ABOVE FREEZING BEFORE THE NEXT BATCH OF RAIN MOVES INTO THE AREA TUESDAY. TEMPERATURES ABOVE THE INVERSION LAYER ARE ARE VERY WARM WITH THE FREEZING LEVEL WHERE THE TEMPERATURE DROPS BELOW FREEZING AGAIN WAS OVER 8000 FT IN BOTH ANCHORAGE AND KING SALMON THIS MORNING. .LONG TERM FORECAST...A LOW WILL MOVE INTO THE WESTERN GULF ON WED FROM THE BERING SEA WHICH WILL BRING ZONAL FLOW ACROSS MOST OF THE BERING SEA. BY THURSDAY A 500 MB TROUGH MOVES FROM THE CHUKCHI SEA INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE STATE. IT APPEARS THAT MOST OF FORECAST AREA WILL HAVE A CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION. IT ALSO LOOKS AS IF THAT REGION WILL BE COOLING BACK TO MORE SEASONABLE TEMPS BY WED OR THURSDAY. THEREFORE THERE WILL BE SOME SNOW INSTEAD OF RAIN FOR A LARGE PART OF THE AREA. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...NONE. MARINE...GALE 160 172 179 180. FIRE WEATHER...NONE. NOV 10
4 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous forecast office employees observed the freezing rain and heavy ice accumulation.
Girdwood DOT reported one quarter to five eighths inch of ice accumulation.
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, November 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: 262348, 262350, 262349, 262351.