Heavy Snow, Kenai Peninsula
- When
- November 7, 9:00 PM AKST to November 8, 4:00 PM AKST
- Where
- Kenai Peninsula forecast zone
- Reported by
- Department of Highways
Heavy Snow in Alaska, November 7 to 8, 2010
A classic Prince William Sound low pumped moisture from the Gulf of Alaska across the Kenai Peninsula resulting in heavy banded snowfall across the central to northern Kenai Peninsula. Snowfall amounts ranged from a few inches along the periphery of the heaviest band to as much as 28 inches in interior locations in the Kenai Mountains at Cooper Landing and around 28 inches in the community of…
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.
A classic Prince William Sound low pumped moisture from the Gulf of Alaska across the Kenai Peninsula resulting in heavy banded snowfall across the central to northern Kenai Peninsula. Snowfall amounts ranged from a few inches along the periphery of the heaviest band to as much as 28 inches in interior locations in the Kenai Mountains at Cooper Landing and around 28 inches in the community of Girdwood.
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 Nov 7, 5:00 PM AKST, 4 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Nov 7, 5:00 PM AKST, 4 hours before
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK 500 PM AKST SUN NOV 7 2010 .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... THE UPPER BLOCKING RIDGE REMAINS OVER WESTERN CANADA BUT IS STARTING TO WEAKEN. AN UPPER TROUGH OVER WESTERN MAINLAND AND THE GULF OF ALASKA IS BEING NUDGED EASTWARD BY AN UPPER RIDGE OVER THE EASTERN BERING SEA. SOUTH TO SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA AND THE THE EASTERN MAINLAND HAVE PRODUCED ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS OVER SOUTHCENTRAL INTERIOR. A MODERATE SURFACE LOW OVER THE NORTHERN GULF HAD KEPT RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS ALONG THE NORTH GULF COAST, KENAI PENINSULA AND SOUTHERN SUSITNA VALLEY SUNDAY. A WEAK SURFACE RIDGE OVER BRISTOL BAY AND THE SOUTHWEST ALASKAN COAST HAS REDUCED THE SNOW SHOWERS OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA, THE THE REGION REMAINS MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH AREAS OF FOG ALONG THE COAST. A WEATHER FRONT OVER THE CENTRAL BERING AND CENTRAL ALEUTIANS CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST. .MODEL DISCUSSION... THE MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT OVER THE GULF AND MAINLAND ALASKA THROUGH TUESDAY BUT ARE HAVING PROBLEMS RESOLVING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPLEX LOW FORMING OVER THE BERING SEA OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS. THE EUROPEAN AND THE NAM MODELS RARE MOVING THE WEATHER FRONT A LITTLE FASTER AND DEVELOPING A FRONTAL LOW FURTHER TO THE EAST THAN THE GFS. THE NAM IS THE PREFERRED MODEL TODAY. .SHORT TERM FORECAST... SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA...THE UPPER TROUGH OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA AND KODIAK ISLAND WILL MOVE OVER THE KENAI PENINSULA TONIGHT, INTO THE SUSITNA VALLEY AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND MONDAY AND THE COPPER RIVER BASIN MONDAY NIGHT. AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW OR SNOW SHOWERS WILL ACCOMPANY THE UPPER TROUGH AS IT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION. THE SURFACE LOW OVER THE GULF WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY AND SLOWLY WEAKEN THROUGH THROUGH TUESDAY. RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS ALONG THE GULF COAST WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH THROUGH THE PERIOD. SOUTHWEST ALASKA...A SURFACE RIDGE OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY AND WEAKEN THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT THEN DISSIPATE TUESDAY. PARTIAL CLEARING OF THE CLOUDS IS EXPECTED THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. RAIN AND SNOW WILL MOVE INTO BRISTOL BAY AND THE KUSKOKWIM DELTA COAST AS THE BERING SEA FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA TUESDAY. BERING SEA...THE WEATHER FRONT OVER THE CENTRAL BERING WILL STALL OVER THE EASTERN BERING MONDAY. A NEW FRONTAL LOW WILL DEVELOP JUST SOUTH OF ATKA MONDAY AND WILL STRENGTHEN AS IT TURNS NORTH INTO THE EASTERN BERING TUESDAY. .LONG TERM FORECAST... THE LONG TERM MODELS REMAIN IN GENERALLY GOOD AGREEMENT. THEY ALL KEEP A COMPLEX LOW OVER THE BERING SEA AND SLOWLY WEAKENS IT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. A NEW LOW COMING OUT OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC WILL STRENGTHEN AS IT MOVES NORTH INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA BY THURSDAY. THIS NEW LOW COULD BE STRONG ENOUGH TO PRODUCE STORM FORCE WINDS OVER THE GULF WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. .AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY PUBLIC...NONE. MARINE...GALES 130 155 165 170 175 176 FIRE WEATHER...NONE. NM NOV 10
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, November 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: 260340.