Name: High Wind in Alaska, May 31, 2011
Start: 2011-05-31T03:30
End: 2011-05-31T04:30
Location: Alaska

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 AFC wrote it up.

A strong north Pacific storm moved into the eastern Bering Sea producing wind gust to 76 mph in Cold Bay.

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 May 30, 12:46 PM AKST, 14 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 12:46 PM AKST, 14 hours 44 minutes before

SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK
400 PM AKDT SAT APR 30 2011

.MODEL DISCUSSION...MODELS ARE ACCEPTABLE IN THE SHORT TERM AS THEY
REMAIN CONSISTENT IN THEIR HANDLING OF THE MAIN WEATHER FEATURES. THE
SOLUTION TO BRING THE LOW INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA SUNDAY AND THEN
INTO SOUTHEAST ALASKA MONDAY IS NOW ACCEPTED BY ALL THE MAJOR MODELS.

.ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...THERE IS A HIGH AMPLITUDE PROGRESSIVE
PATTERN OVER THE STATE TODAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE EXTENDS OVER
SOUTHEAST ALASKA AND THE ALCAN BORDER WITH A SHARP UPPER LEVEL TROUGH
RESIDING OVER WEST-INTERIOR ALASKA THAT EXTENDS SOUTHWARD OVER
BRISTOL BAY. ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL HIGH HAS BUILT INTO THE CENTRAL
BERING SEA WITH THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL TROUGH JUST WEST OF ATTU.
ALSO ALOFT IS A SHORT WAVE HEADING UP COOK INLET. THIS IS IN
CONJUNCTION WITH A FRONT MOVING ASHORE ALONG THE NORTH GULF COAST
WHICH IS BRING SOME STRONG WINDS TO TURNAGAIN ARM AND GUSTY WINDS TO
THE MATANUSKA VALLEY AND COPPER RIVER BASIN.
AT THE SURFACE THE LOW JUST SOUTHWEST OF THE BERING SEA IS MOVING
VERY SLOWLY...THOUGH THE OCCLUDED FRONT WRAPPED AROUND IT IS
PROGRESSING OVER THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL ALEUTIANS.

.SHORT TERM FORECAST...THE WAVE MOVING THROUGH THE NORTH GULF COAST
AND INTO SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA WILL CONTINUE TO BRING GUSTY WINDS
THROUGH CHANNELED TERRAIN AHEAD OF IT AND PERIODS OF RAIN SHOWERS
OVER THE REGION WELL INTO THE EVENING. AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS THE
PRECIPITATION SHOULD CHANGE TO SNOW SO THERE WILL BE SOME FRESH SNOW
THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN PASSES FROM THIS SYSTEM.
RAIN...MIXED WITH SNOW WILL ALSO COVER THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS WITH THE
WEATHER FRONT IN THAT AREA.

.LONG TERM FORECAST...MODEL ACCURACY AND CONFIDENCE CONTINUES TO
HAMPER THE LONG TERM FORECASTS. IT DOES LOOK LIKE THE STORM TRACK
WILL SET UP IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE FORECAST AREA. THE MAIN LAND
PART OF THE FORECAST AREA WILL PROBABLY SEE SHOWERY CONDITIONS WITH
DIURNAL CONVECTION PERSISTING THOUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE 172 175. STORM 176.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

APR 11

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Alaska Peninsula

When: May 31, 3:30 AM AKST to 4:30 AM AKST
Where: Alaska Peninsula forecast zone
Measured: 66 kt (76 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS

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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2011 Every state in 2011 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, May 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: 295243.