18. Although most of the area was warm and windy with rain, but Northern Lynn Canal got heavy snow at higher elevations.
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.
A monster storm in the Bering Sea had an associated front move all the way across the Gulf to the Panhandle on 12.18. Although most of the area was warm and windy with rain, but Northern Lynn Canal got heavy snow at higher elevations.
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 Dec 18, 6:46 AM AKST, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
646 AM AKST SUN DEC 18 2011
.SHORT TERM...A GALE FORCE LOW OVER KODIAK WILL TRACK NORTHWEST
OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA TODAY. THE ASSOCIATED WEATHER FRONT WILL
MOVE EAST ACROSS THE GULF TODAY AND OVER THE PANHANDLE TONIGHT.
RAIN BEGAN IN YAKUTAT EARLY THIS MORNING AND WILL CONTINUE TO
SPREAD ACROSS THE PANHANDLE TODAY, EXCEPT FOR SNOW AND RAIN IN
THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL PANHANDLE. WINDS WILL INCREASE ALONG THE
FRONT LATE THIS MORNING AND CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY EVENING WITH
STRONG WINDS ALONG THE OUTER COAST FROM YAKUTAT TO SITKA ZONES AND
SKAGWAY. HIGHER GUSTS TO 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED IN THE REST OF THE INNER
CHANNELS. HAINES AND KLONDIKE HIGHWAYS ARE EXPECTED TO SEE HEAVY
SNOW THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS WITH SNOWFALL AMOUNTS FROM 4 TO 12
INCHES. AT SEA LEVEL IN HAINES AND SKAGWAY, SNOW WILL MIX WITH
RAIN BECAUSE OF THE WARM AIR ADVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRONG
SOUTHERLY WINDS.
IN THE MARINES, THERE WILL BE STORM FORCE WINDS IN AREA 52 NEAR
CAPE SUCKLING TO 50 KT TODAY AND GALE FORCE WINDS IN THE REST OF
THE OUTSIDE WATERS IN THE EASTERN GULF OF ALASKA. ALL WINDS WILL
DIMINISH LATE TONIGHT TO AROUND 20 KT. MAJORITY OF THE INNER
CHANNELS WILL HAVE MAX SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES STARTING IN THE LATE
MORNING TO EARLY AFTERNOON. IN NORTHERN LYNN, STEPHENS PASSAGE,
CROSS SOUND, AND CLARENCE STRAIT THE WINDS WILL INCREASE TO GALE
FORCE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING.
THE 18/00Z EC AND NAM MODELS WERE USED TO UPDATE THE FORECAST
THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE EC HAD THE LOW A LITTLE STRONG WHILE
THE NAM WAS WEAKER GIVEN A GOOD BLEND FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE
LOW. 850 MB THICKNESS WILL RANGE FROM 1280 TO 1315 FROM YAKUTAT
TO KETCHIKAN. TEMPERATURES AT 850 MB RANGE FROM -2 TO -8 CELSIUS
WITH THE WARMEST TEMPERATURES NEAR KETCHIKAN. MAJORITY OF THE
ZONES WILL SEE SNOW CHANGING TO RAIN OR MIXING IN AT TIMES
THROUGH THIS EVENING. QPF AMOUNTS 1 TO 2 INCHES ALONG THE OUTER
COAST AND THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE THROUGH TONIGHT. RAIN WILL BE
HEAVY AT TIMES, EXCEPT HEAVY SNOW ALONG THE HAINES AND KLONDIKE
HIGHWAYS. SNOW AMOUNTS IN THE REST OF THE ZONES WILL VARY
DEPENDING ON HOW FAST THE WAA IS ERODED AWAY THIS EVENING FLOWING
THE FRONTAL PASSAGE TONIGHT WITH UP TO 3 INCHES POSSIBLE FROM
GUSTAVUS TO WRANGELL AND NEAR YAKUTAT. EXCEPT, UP TO 7 INCHES
NEAR HYDER TONIGHT.
OVERALL, THE FORECAST WAS UPDATED TO INCREASE THE WINDS OVER
LAND AND INNER CHANNELS. CONFIDENCE IN THE WIND FORECAST IS ABOVE
AVERAGE. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS WERE INCREASED SLIGHTLY DUE TO BELOW
AVERAGE CONFIDENCE WITH PRECIPITATION TYPE THIS EVENING.
&&
.LONG TERM...BRIEF WARM UP AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EXTENDED
RANGE FORECAST AS THE WARM SECTOR MOVES OVER THE PANHANDLE. FOR
THOSE LOCATIONS THAT WILL STILL SEE SNOW BY MONDAY MORNING, THAT
WILL CHANGE TO RAIN BY THE AFTERNOON. ANOTHER LOW WILL ENTER THE
SOUTHWESTERN GULF ON MONDAY AND TRACK TO THE NORTHEAST. LANDFALL
MONDAY NIGHT EXPECTED SOUTH OF SITKA AND NORTH OF CAPE OMMANEY.
THIS SHOULD PRODUCE A BRIEF PERIOD OF STRONG WINDS ALONG THE
SOUTHERN OUTER COAST. ASSOCIATED PRECIP WILL MOVE NORTH OVER THE
SOUTHERN HALF OF THE PANHANDLE WITH THE CATEGORICAL LINE GETTING
AS FAR NORTH AS JUNEAU AND TENAKEE SPRINGS. NO SIGNIFICANT
SNOWFALL OUT OF THIS SYSTEM EXCEPT FOR A FEW INCHES IN HYDER.
NEXT MAJOR WEATHER EVENT LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BEGIN WEDNESDAY
NIGHT AS ANOTHER LOW AND ASSOCIATED FRONT ENTERS THE GULF FROM THE
SOUTHWEST. ASSOCIATED FRONT LOOKS LIKE IT WILL OCCLUDE SHORTLY
BEFORE ARRIVING ON THE OUTER COAST, MINIMIZING THE ASSOCIATED
WARM SECTOR OVER SOUTHEAST ALASKA. WITH COLD AIR BEHIND THIS
FRONT, SOUTHEAST ALASKA MAY SEE A PROLONGED SNOW EVENT THAT MAY
NOT CHANGE OVER TO RAIN FOR MANY PLACES. CURRENT SNOW TOTALS IN
GRIDS SUGGESTING THAT ANOTHER WINTER STORM WARNING WILL BE
NECESSARY FOR THE NORTHERN INNER CHANNELS WITH WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORIES FOR ZONES 25 AND 26 OVERNIGHT WEDNESDAY AND THROUGH
THURSDAY.
LONG RANGE LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND SHOWS ANOTHER FRONT
WITH A WELL DEVELOPED WARM SECTOR ASSOCIATED WITH IT. RIGHT NOW
IT LOOKS AS IF CHRISTMAS FOR SOUTHEAST ALASKA WILL BE MORE WET
THAN WHITE.
USED EC FOR UPDATES THROUGH WEDNESDAY. FORECAST CONFIDENCE IS
AVERAGE.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...STRONG WIND THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR AKZ017-022-023.
WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL MIDNIGHT AKST TONIGHT FOR AKZ018-019.
STRONG WIND THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR AKZ018.
MARINE...STORM WARNING FOR PKZ052.
GALE WARNING FOR PKZ012-022-031-036-041>043-051.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ011-013-021-032>035-053.
&&
PRB/FRITSCH1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Haines Customs observed 6.5 inches of new snowfall during the evening of 12.18. It is estimated that other sections of that Chilkat Highway got up to 10 inches new snow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2011
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: 355790.