High Wind, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait
- When
- January 9, 10:00 AM AKST to 3:30 PM AKST
- Where
- St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
- Measured
- 56 kt (64 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- AWSS
High Wind in Alaska, January 9, 2011
The area of low pressure that moved north across the central Bering Sea on the 8th continued to move north and across eastern Russia on the 9th. The strong pressure difference between the low and high pressure in the interior produced another period of high winds at Wales from approximately 1000AKST through 1530AKST on the 9th.
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.
The area of low pressure that moved north across the central Bering Sea on the 8th continued to move north and across eastern Russia on the 9th. The strong pressure difference between the low and high pressure in the interior produced another period of high winds at Wales from approximately 1000AKST through 1530AKST on the 9th. A peak wind gust of 56 kt (64 mph) was observed at the Wales AWSS.
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 9, 5:59 AM AKST, 4 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 9, 5:59 AM AKST, 4 hours 1 minute before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 559 AM AKST SUN JAN 9 2011 .DISCUSSION... THE GFS AND NAM COMPUTER WEATHER FORECAST MODELS HAVE SIMILAR PROJECTIONS THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. THE STRONG LOW THAT CROSSED THE ALEUTIANS FRIDAY EVENING IS NOW WEAKENING AND HEADED RAPIDLY INTO THE CHUKCHI SEA. THIS WEATHER SYSTEM HAS BEEN AN UNUSUAL ONE IN TERMS OF ITS FAST MOVEMENT AND IN THE AMOUNT OF FREEZING RAIN IT HAS BROUGHT TO THE WEST AND NORTHWEST REGIONS OF NORTHERN ALASKA. WHILE THIS SEQUENCE OF WEATHER EVENTS OVER NORTHERN ALASKA HAS INDEED BEEN UNUSUAL...THE COMPUTER WEATHER FORECASTS FOR NORTHERN ALASKA DURING THE PAST 2 DAYS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT AND ACCURATE. THIS HAS BEEN TRUE FOR THE SHORTER RANGE PREDICATIONS / OUT TO 60 HOURS / AS WELL AS THE FORECASTS FOR 3 TO 7 DAYS INTO THE FUTURE. FOLLOWING THE STRONG LOW FROM THE BERING SEA / LOW NUMBER 1 / IS ANOTHER LOW / LOW NUMBER 2 / JUST ABOUT 24 HOURS BEHIND ITS PREDECESSOR. THE COMPUTER MODELS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT IN FORECASTING LOW NUMBER 2 TO MOVE NORTHWESTWARD...AND TO ARRIVE ON THE NORTHERN KAMCHATKA PENINSULA EARLY MONDAY. AS IN SIMILAR PAST CASES...LOW NUMBER 1 ACQUIRED A GOOD PORTION OF ITS ENERGY VIA A STRONG INFLOW OF SUBTROPICAL AIR FROM ABOUT 25 DEGREES NORTH LATITUDE UP TO THE ALEUTIANS AND THE EAST BERING SEA. THIS INFLUX OF ENERGY IS NOW DIMINISHING. THE ENERGY THAT ACCOMPANIED LOW NUMBER 1 IS NOW HEADED NORTH WITH THE LOW. THE STRONG WINDS AND WINTER WEATHER THAT CAME WITH THE LOW ARE RAPIDLY DIMINISHING FROM THE SOUTH AND THE REMAINS OF THE STORMY WEATHER ARE HEADED NORTHEASTWARD OVER THE ARCTIC SLOPE ZONES. THE STRONG HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM ALOFT NOW BUILDING OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA IS CONTINUING TO BUILD AND IS EXPECTED TO BE CENTERED NEAR KOTZEBUE EARLY MONDAY. FROM THERE...THE HIGH IS FORECAST TO BUILD WESTWARD OVER THE CHUKCHI SEA FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS WEEK. THIS PATTERN OF CIRCULATION BROUGHT IN A LARGE MASS OF WARM AIR ALOFT...UP OVER THE ALEUTIANS TO NEARLY ALL OF NORTHERN ALASKA. AS THE HIGH ALOFT NOW OVER SOUTHWEST ALASKA EXITS WESTWARD...THE WARMING WILL END. STARTING MONDAY AFTERNOON...COLDER AIR WILL ADVANCE OVER NORTHERN ALASKA FROM THE MACKENZIE RIVER REGION OF CANADA. THIS INFLUX WILL NOT BE STRONG ENOUGH TO BRING IN SEVERE COLD...BUT THERE SHOULD BE LARGE AREAS OF 20 TO 30 BELOW TEMPERATURES IN EASTERN INTERIOR VALLEYS. THE LARGE INTERIOR TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS / 20 TO 30 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT BETWEEN VALLEYS AND HIGHLANDS / WILL WEAKEN A LITTLE AS THE COLDER AIR ADVANCES. THIS MORNINGS POLAR ORBITING SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THE LARGE OVERCAST DECK OF STRATOCUMULUS THAT WAS OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR YESTERDAY NOW COVERING NEARLY ALL OF THE YUKON TERRITORY. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ201-AKZ202-AKZ203-AKZ205. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ220-PKZ225. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ215-PKZ230-PKZ235- PKZ240. && TF JAN 11
Event by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- 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
- Ice Storm and Winter Storm in Alabama, January 9 to 10, 2011
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Kansas, January 9 to 10, 2011
- Winter Storm in Louisiana, January 9, 2011
- Ice Storm and Winter Storm in Georgia, January 9 to 14, 2011
- Heavy Snow in Texas, January 9, 2011
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Nebraska, January 9 to 12, 2011
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, January 9, 2011
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in South Dakota, January 9 to 10, 2011
- Winter Storm in Mississippi, January 9 to 10, 2011
- Ice Storm and Heavy Snow in Mississippi, January 9, 2011
- Heavy Snow in Arkansas, January 9, 2011
- Ice Storm and Winter Weather in Louisiana, January 9, 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: 267567.