Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Central Beaufort Sea Coast
- When
- December 24, 2:45 PM AKST to 5:45 PM AKST
- Where
- Central Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
- Reported by
- Official NWS Observations
Extreme Cold in Alaska, December 24, 2011
Temperatures of 31 to 33 below zero (F) combined with a southwest wind of 13 to 16 kt (15 to 18 mph) to produce wind chills as low as 63 below during the mid afternoon hours of the 24th at the Kuparuk SAWRS.
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 AFG wrote it up.
Temperatures of 31 to 33 below zero (F) combined with a southwest wind of 13 to 16 kt (15 to 18 mph) to produce wind chills as low as 63 below during the mid afternoon hours of the 24th at the Kuparuk SAWRS.
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 Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 24, 2:30 PM AKST, 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 24, 2:30 PM AKST, 15 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 230 PM AKST SAT DEC 24 2011 .DISCUSSION... CURRENT MODELS AND ENSEMBLE MEANS INDICATING A COLD UPPER LOW WILL BE THE CONTROLLING FEATURE OVER NRN AK FOR THE NEXT WEEK. WITH THE CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT...SKIES ARE LIKELY TO REMAIN MOSTLY CLOUDY OVER MOST AREAS FOR MOST OF THE TIME AND THIS SHOULD KEEP INTERIOR TEMPERATURES OUT OF THE EXTREME COLD RANGE. HOWEVER...COLDER TEMPERATURES WILL BE POSSIBLE IN ANY AREAS WITH CLEAR OR PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. MESOSCALE RIDGE HAS DEVELOPED OVER THE INTERIOR ARCTIC SLOPE AND IS LIKELY TO PERSIST FOR AT LEAST A FEW DAYS. THIS WILL LIKELY KEEP WINDS OUT OF THE WEST TO SOUTHWEST ALONG THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN ARCTIC COAST. TYPICALLY... MODELS TEND TO DISSIPATE THIS FEATURE TOO QUICKLY. NORTHEAST WINDS DEVELOPING ALONG THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST WILL LIKELY BE LESS THAN MODEL FORECASTS...SO WILL WE WILL NOT UP ANY WIND CHILL ADVISORIES FOR THE WESTERN ARCTIC ZONES. LOW WIND CHILL IN ZONE 207 WILL LIKELY BE LIMITED TO AREAS NORTHWEST OF KIVALINA...WHILE IN ZONE 213...LOW WIND CHILL IS EXPECTED TO BE LIMITED TO AREAS NEAR THE BERING STRAIT. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ210-AKZ213. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225. && RF DEC 11
Event by event
1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Extreme Cold/Wind Chill
- Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2011
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: 352537.