Heavy Snow and High Wind in Alaska, January 13, 2011

Name: Heavy Snow and High Wind in Alaska, January 13, 2011
Start: 2011-01-13T09:00
End: 2011-01-13T18:00
Location: Alaska

January 13, 2011 · NWS AFC · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

High pressure over the interior of Alaska along with low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska resulted in strong outflow gap wind through the Chugach mountains. The low in the Gulf of Alaska also produced heavy snow over the northeast end of Kodiak Island.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

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 Jan 13, 5:00 AM AKST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 13, 5:00 AM AKST, 4 hours before

SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK
500 AM AKST THU JAN 13 2011

.MODEL DISCUSSION...
MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT TERM. ECMWF MUCH MORE
AGGRESSIVE IN MOVING STORM IN SOUTH OF KODIAK AT 84 HOURS THAN GFS.
MORE CONSERVATIVE GFS SOLUTION PREFERRED THROUGH THE MIDTERM.
TRENDED TOWARDS HPC GUIDANCE IN THE LONG RANGE.

.ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...
DOMINANT UPPER LEVEL HIGH CENTERED OVER NORTHERN CHUKCHI SEA MOVES
OFF INTO WESTERN RUSSIA BY SUNDAY MORNING. TRANSVERSE LONG WAVE
TROUGH DEVELOPS ACROSS ALEUTIANS AND SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA BY SATURDAY
MORNING. AT THE SURFACE...MAIN STORM TRACK STAYS WELL SOUTH OF
ALEUTIAN CHAIN THROUGH THE WEEKEND. BROAD EASTERLY FLOW DEVELOP
ACROSS THE BERING SEA WHILE FLOW REMAINS OUT OF THE NORTH OVER
MAINLAND ALASKA.

.SHORT TERM FORECAST...
CONTRAST OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER NORTHERN ALASKA AND LOWER PRESSURE IN
THE GULF OF ALASKA IS GENERATING GUSTY NORTH WINDS THROUGH CHANNELED
AREAS LEE OF THE ALASKA AND CHUGACH RANGES. A MODERATE MID-LEVEL
SHORT WAVE WILL PASS OVER SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA TODAY AND FURTHER
ENHANCE THESE WINDS. HURRICANE FORCE WIND GUSTS EXPECTED OUT OF THE
NORTHEAST LATER THIS MORNING IN THE MATANUSKA VALLEY. UPPER LEVEL
ENHANCEMENT COULD ALSO GENERATE DANGEROUSLY HIGH WINDS ALONG THE
KUSKOKWIM DELTA COAST LATE THIS AFTERNOON. GRADIENT BEGINS TO LOOSEN
SATURDAY MORNING AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN AT THE SURFACE OVER
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA.
STRATUS FOG AND LIGHT SNOW EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE DAY
OVER THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN BERING SEA. INCREASING NORTHEAST WINDS
SHOULD PRODUCE ENOUGH MIXING TO ELIMINATE THE LOW CLOUDS AND FOG BY
LATE THIS EVENING BUT SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH
THE WEEKEND.

.LONG TERM FORECAST...
STORM TRACK EDGES A BIT NORTHWARD BY THE END OF THE
WEEKEND...ALLOWING NORTH PACIFIC STORMS TO JUST GRAZE THE ALEUTIANS
AND KODIAK ISLAND. WEAK HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN AT THE SURFACE OVER
INTERIOR SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA AND A SUBSIDENCE
INVERSION WILL BEGIN TO DEVELOP...USHERING IN A RETURN TO NEAR ZERO
TEMPERATURES FOR MOST INLAND AREAS.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING ZONE 111. HIGH WIND WATCH ZONE 155.
MARINE...GALE 130 138 140 172 175 176 185 352 412
         HEAVY SPRAY 121 138 140 179 185 414
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

ASB JAN 11

Event by event

1 heavy snow, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Kodiak Peninsula

When: January 13, 9:00 AM AKST to 6:00 PM AKST
Where: Kodiak Peninsula forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

High Wind, Matanuska Valley

When: January 13, 1:00 PM AKST to 2:00 PM AKST
Where: Matanuska Valley forecast zone
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2011 Every state in 2011 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, January 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: 267719, 267717.