An intense North Pacific storm that bottomed out around 932 MB produced high wind as it moved south of the Aleutians and blizzard conditions over southwest 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.
An intense North Pacific storm that bottomed out around 932 MB produced high wind as it moved south of the Aleutians and blizzard conditions over southwest Alaska.
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 17, 5:00 AM AKST, 4 hours earlier.
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK
500 AM AKST MON JAN 17 2011
.MODEL DISCUSSION...00Z ECMWF STILL NOT SHOWING SECONDARY LOW
FORMING ALONG FRONT STEMMING FROM DEEPENING LOW IN CENTRAL
PACIFIC S OF WRN/CENTRAL ALEUTIANS JUST 24-36 HOURS OUT. SINCE
NAM IS SHOWING THIS FEATURE AS WELL...AND GFS HAS BEEN CONSISTENTLY
FORECASTING IT LAST SEVERAL RUNS...GFS IS THE MODEL OF CHOICE.
GFS IS ALSO A LITTLE STRONGER THAN ECMWF WITH SURFACE LOW FORMING
IN WRN GULF AK AT 72-84 HRS AS FRONT FROM CURRENT NPAC LOW MOVES
OVER. NAM TRENDS TOWARD THE GFS AT THIS TIME...SO USED MAINLY THE
GFS FOR MID-TERM AND EXTENDED AS WELL.
.ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...DEEP VERTICALLY STACKED 490 DM UPPER
LOW CURRENTLY NEAR 44N/170E HAS ABOUT 932 MB SURFACE REFLECTION.
STRONG OCCLUDED FRONTAL SYSTEM WITH THIS PUSHING N AND E HEADING
TOWARD WRN/CENTRAL ALEUTIANS TODAY/TONIGHT. WEAKER SECONDARY SURFACE
LOW AROUND 948 MB WILL MOVE N OVER ATKA TUE MORNING. OCCLUDED FRONT
WILL SLOWLY LIFT FURTHER N AND E OVER ERN ALEUTIANS TUE AND AK PEN
TUE NIGHT...BEFORE FINALLY ENTERING WRN GULF AK EARLY WED. SURFACE
LOW FORMS S OF PADQ EARLY WED...DEEPENS AND MOVES INTO NRN GULF
WED EVENING. LOW AND FRONTAL REMAINS LIFT N OVER ERN GULF COAST
AND S-CENTRAL WED/WED NIGHT. WEAK UPPER LOW IS CURRENTLY OVER SW AK
CENTERED BETWEEN PAIL AND SELDOVIA. THIS WILL SLIDE E TODAY AND
TONIGHT
AS SHORT-WAVE DROPPING S OVER INTERIOR IN STRONG CONSOLIDATED NWRLY
FLOW AROUND DEEP POLAR VORTEX N OF WRN CANADIAN ARCTIC GIVES IT
A NUDGE.
.SHORT TERM FORECAST...
SOUTH-CENTRAL/SOUTHWEST
-SN ENDING THIS MORNING SW AK AS WEAK UPPER LOW SLIDES E. -SN
DEVELOPING KENAI PEN. TO JUST S OF PAEN TODAY INTO EVENING. NOT
EXPECTING MORE THAN BROKEN CEILINGS FURTHER N OVER PANC BOWL.
-SN ALSO DEVELOPING TODAY GULF COAST AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND.
AMOUNTS LIGHT THOUGH...1 TO 2 INCHES AT BEST. OUTFLOW WINDS
WEAKENING AS HIGH PRESSURE INLAND CONTINUES WEAKENING. CONTINUED
COLD THROUGH TUE THEN WARMING WED/THU WITH FRONT MOVING INTO
GULF...THEN LIFTING N. SOME -SN LIKELY WED NIGHT PANC BOWL...HEAVIER
OVER KENAI/GULF COAST AND SUSITNA VALLEY. MUCH WARMER TEMPS WITH
THIS AND BEHIND.
BERING/ALEUTIANS
STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL ALEUTIANS
TODAY. STORM FORCE WINDS TONIGHT/TUE SPREADING E OVER ERN ALEUTIANS
BUT LIGHTER OVER AK PEN. PRECIP. TO BE MIXED OR ALL RAIN OVER ALL
ALEUTIANS. NEXT SYSTEM IN BROAD SWRLY FLOW WILL BE 975 MB LOW LIFTING
NE OVER ERN ALEUTIANS EARLY THU...LOOKS FOR NOW TO JUST BE GALE FORCE
WINDS WITH THIS.
.LONG TERM FORECAST...
BROAD MILD SWRLY FLOW OVER FORECAST AREA THU WILL LIKELY CONTINUE
THROUGH NEXT WEEKEND. FRONT WITH THU ERN ALEUTIANS LOW WILL LIFT
N OVER GULF COAST AND S-CENTRAL THU NIGHT/EARLY FRI. PRECIP. PROBABLY
MIXED GULF COAST...COULD STILL BE -SN PANC BOWL AND SUSITNA VALLEY
BUT LIGHT AMOUNTS. ANOTHER WEAK SHORT WAVE FOLLOWS QUICKLY ON FRI
NIGHT/EARLY SAT. MUCH WARMER ALL AREAS FROM WEDNESDAY ON.
.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...HIGH WIND WARNING 187 191...HIGH WIND WATCH 185
MARINE...HURRICANE FORCE 172 175 176 411
STORMS 170 412 413 414
GALES...127 155 160 165 171 179 185 351 352
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.
MAR JAN 113 high wind, 1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Wind speed is estimated based upon the surface analysis and observations near the zone.
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, January 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: 268354, 268355, 268352, 268531.