Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait
- When
- January 7, 6:16 AM AKST to 9:56 AM AKST
- Where
- St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS
Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, January 7, 2011
A 978 mb low approximately 300 miles southwest of Saint Lawrence Island combined with a 1030 mb high across interior Alaska to produce blizzard conditions at Savoonga on Saint Lawrence. At Savoonga, blizzard conditions were observed from 0616AKST through 0956AKST.
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 AFG wrote it up.
A 978 mb low approximately 300 miles southwest of Saint Lawrence Island combined with a 1030 mb high across interior Alaska to produce blizzard conditions at Savoonga on Saint Lawrence. At Savoonga, blizzard conditions were observed from 0616AKST through 0956AKST. The visibility was reduced to one quarter of a mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust of 51 kt (59 mph) at the Savoonga AWOS. A brief period of blizzard conditions were also observed at Wales during the afternoon, but several observations were unavailable and it did not appear that the blizzard conditions lasted for 3 hours. There was, however, a peak wind gust of 53 kt (61 mph) at the Wales AWSS and several consecutive hours when the wind gusted to 52 kt (60 mph).
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 Jan 7, 5:10 AM AKST, 1 hour 6 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 7, 5:10 AM AKST, 1 hour 6 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 510 AM AKST FRI JAN 7 2011 .DISCUSSION... 975 MB LOW SW OF ST MATTHEW ISLAND CONTS TO CHURN NWD...WITH RAPID WEAKENING STARTING LATE THIS MORNING AS THE LOW MOVES INLAND OVER CHUKOTKA. NEXT...AND LAST...IN THE SERIES WILL BE SW OF ADAK FRI AFTERNOON AND SHOULD FOLLOW A NEARLY IDENTICAL PATH AS CURRENT LOW...BUT WITH EVEN MORE WARM AIR. MEANWHILE...1030 MB HIGH OVER THE ALASKA RANGE AND SRN INTERIOR WILL BUILD WITH THE BROAD CENTER DRFTG NWD THRU THE WEEKEND. MODELS IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT IN THE SHORT...THO SOME DIFFS IN PRECIP AND LOW LEVEL TEMPS. ALL MODELS CONTINUE TO FORECAST UNPRECEDENTED MEGA HIGH ALOFT TO DEVELOP OVER WRN ALASKA. HIGH CENTERED NR BETHEL EARLY SUN MOVING N AND BUILDING...TO BE ABT A 579 DM CENTER NEAR KOTZEBUE BY EARLY MON...AND BUILDING THEREAFTER. ALL OPERATIONAL MODELS HAVE A CLOSED 582 CONTOUR OVR NW ALASKA 12Z TUE. THIS WILL BLOCK ANY SGFNT STORMS FROM IMPACTING THE CWA FOR MOST OR ALL OF NXT WEEK. NORTH SLOPE...WINDS SHOULD DIMINISH ALONG THE COAST AS THE TROUGH OFFSHORE WEAKENS. TEMPS REMAINING ABOVE NORMAL. SFC TEMPS UNDERNEATH THE MEGA HIGH TOUGH TO CALL. THERE WILL BE A BIG INVERSION BUT WELL ABOVE NORMAL FOR SURE. WEST COAST...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS FOR ZONE 213. HIGH WINDS ARE LIKELY TO BE MORE ON AN ISSUE. SAVOONGA AND WALES/DIOMEDE...WHICH FREQUENTLY BLOW SUPER-GRADIENT WITH A DUE SLY GRADIENT WIND...MAY HAVE GUSTS TO 60 MPH NEXT 36 HOURS. SOME UNCERTAINTY ON HOW FAR EAST PRECIP FROM THE NEXT SYSTEM GETS. GFS IS BY FAR THE MOST AGGRESSIVE OF THE OPERATIONAL MODELS...WITH PRECIP ALL THE WAY INTO THE CENTRAL INTERIOR SAT NIGHT. THIS IS LIKELY OVERDONE AND WE LARGELY KEEP IN WEST OF GALENA. TEMPS UNDER THE MEGA HIGH WILL DEPEND ON ELEVATION AND IF ANY WIND CAN BREAK WHAT WILL OTHERWISE BE IN THE INTERIOR...STRATUS LIKELY TO CONTINUE TO CREATE PROBLEMS NEXT COUPLE DAYS...THOUGH AIRMASS IS WARMING...AND EVEN CLEAR VALLEYS NOT LIKELY TO ANY COLDER THAN ABOUT NORMAL. NO MORE THAN SOME CLOUDS EXPECTED TO ROTATE AROUND THE UPPER AIR...AND MODELS MAY BE OVERDOING THESE. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... BLIZZARD WARNING FOR AKZ213. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ220. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ225. && RT JAN 11
Event by event
1 blizzard, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High Wind, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait
- When
- January 7, 12:33 PM AKST to 5:00 PM AKST
- Where
- St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
- Measured
- 53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- AWSS
What these are
- Blizzard
- Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.
- 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
- Lake-Effect Snow in Ohio, January 7 to 9, 2011
- Lake-Effect Snow in Pennsylvania, January 7 to 9, 2011
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in New York, January 7 to 8, 2011
- Winter Weather in New Jersey, January 7, 2011
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Tennessee, January 7 to 8, 2011
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Montana, January 7 to 9, 2011
- Heavy Snow in North Carolina, January 7 to 9, 2011
- Blizzard in Iowa, January 7, 2011
- Heavy Snow in Connecticut, January 7 to 8, 2011
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, January 7 to 8, 2011
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, January 7 to 8, 2011
- Heavy Snow in Tennessee, January 7 to 8, 2011
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 267557, 267580.