Extreme Cold in Alaska, November 21 to 22, 2011

Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, November 21 to 22, 2011
Start: 2011-11-21T07:00
End: 2011-11-22T04:00
Location: Alaska

November 21 to 22, 2011 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A cold upper low moved out of the high arctic and across the Brooks Range on the morning of the 21st. The low then moved into the western Gulf of Alaska on the morning of the 22nd.

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.

A cold upper low moved out of the high arctic and across the Brooks Range on the morning of the 21st. The low then moved into the western Gulf of Alaska on the morning of the 22nd. The upper low was accompanied by an unseasonably cold air mass. Temperatures dropped as low as 40 below zero at Atigun Pass. The cold temperatures combined with a northeast wind of 15 to 20 mph to produce wind chills as low as 71 below at Atigun Pass. The strong wind also produced areas of blowing and drifting snow and poor visibility at Atigun Pass.

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 Nov 21, 3:53 AM AKST, 3 hours 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 21, 3:53 AM AKST, 3 hours 7 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
353 AM AKST MON NOV 21 2011

.DISCUSSION...
UPPER AIR...A DEEP 488 DM LOW NEAR UMIAT AT 12Z THIS MORNING WILL
MOVE TO NEAR MCGRATH BY EARLY THIS EVENING...AND THEN INTO THE
WESTERN GULF OF ALASKA BY 12Z TUESDAY. THE LOW MOVES INTO THE
EASTERN GULF BY LATE WEDNESDAY AND SLOWLY WEAKENS AND EXPANDS
NORTH INTO THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR.

SURFACE...A DOUBLE BARREL LOW IN THE GULF CONSOLIDATES INTO ONE DEEP
960-965 MB LOW CENTER IN THE NORTHERN GULF TONIGHT AS THE UPPER
LOW DROPS SOUTH ACROSS THE MAINLAND AND SUPPLIES A SOURCE OF COLD
AIR TO WRAP INTO THE SFC LOW. A SURFACE RIDGE ACROSS THE WESTERN
CHUKCHI SEA SOUTH TO THE GULF OF ANADYR SLOWLY WEAKENS THROUGH
TUESDAY. A WEAK RIDGE BUILDS ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST TONIGHT AND
PERSISTS THROUGH WEDNESDAY IN THE WAKE OF THE UPPER LOW.

INTERIOR...THE MAIN WEATHER CONCERNS THE NEXT 48 HOURS WILL BE THE
POTENTIAL FOR AREAS OF LOW WIND CHILL AS WELL AS AREAS OF BLOWING
SNOW ON THE SUMMITS.  AS THE LOW DEEPENS IN THE GULF THE PRESSURE
GRADIENT TIGHTENS TODAY. WILL ISSUE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES MAINLY
FOR THE STEESE...ELLIOT...AND DALTON HIGHWAY SUMMITS FOR THE
COMBINATION OF BLOWING SNOW AND LOW WIND CHILLS. THE WORST
CONDITIONS WILL PROBABLY BE TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING.
OTHERWISE...CLOUDS WILL INCREASE TODAY FROM THE NORTH AS THE
UPPER LOW CONTINUES TO DROP SOUTH. LOWER CLOUDS AND AREAS OF LIGHT
SNOW OR FLURRIES FOR MUCH OF THE INTERIOR TONIGHT AND
TUESDAY...BUT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LESS THAN AN
INCH MOST AREAS. TEMPERATURES WILL GRADUALLY BECOME MORE ISOTHERMAL
DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS AS THE COLD AIR ALOFT SETTLES IN AND THE
CLOUD COVER THICKENS UP.

NORTH SLOPE...FAIRLY QUIET WEATHER WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPS THE NEXT
FEW DAYS.  WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN LIGHT AS THE SURFACE RIDGE
DEVELOPS NORTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE...SO NO WIND CHILL OR BLOWING
SNOW CONCERNS ALONG THE COAST.  THERE WILL BE SOME STRONGER NORTH
WIND IN THE PASSES TODAY INTO TONIGHT THAT WILL LEAD TO SOME LOW
WIND CHILLS AND BLOWING SNOW. WILL ISSUE A WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORY FOR THE DALTON HIGHWAY NEAR ATIGUN PASS.

WEST COAST...NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER FOR THE WEST COAST THE NEXT FEW
DAYS.  A FEW SNOW SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE AT TIMES THROUGH THE BERING
STRAIT AND OUT ACROSS ST LAWRENCE ISLAND...BUT OTHERWISE MAINLY DRY
WITH NOTHING MORE THAN SOME FLURRIES IN AREAS OF STATUS THAT DEVELOP
INLAND AREAS. WINDS THROUGH THE BERING STRAIT AND ACROSS THE ST
LAWRENCE WATERS WILL REMAIN AT SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY LEVELS WITH THE
GRADIENT TO PERSIST BETWEEN THE LOW IN THE GULF AND HIGH PRESSURE TO
THE WEST.

MEDIUM RANGE DISCUSSION...
CURRENT MODELS CONTINUING TO INDICATE BROAD LOW PRESSURE ALOFT
PERSISTING OVER THE CWA THU THROUGH SAT...850 MB TEMPERATURES MAINLY
IN THE -20C TO -25C RANGE. USED BLEND OF SUNDAYS 12Z EUROPEAN AND
12Z/00Z GFS FOR WINDS AND CLOUD COVER. IN GENERAL...RH PROGS
INDICATING MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS CONTINUING TO PREDOMINATE OVER
THE INTERIOR...BUT IT MAY NOT BE SOLIDLY CLOUDY IN ALL AREAS AT
ALL TIMES...BREAKS IN THE CLOUDS MAY OCCUR IN MANY AREAS AT TIMES.
THIS WOULD MAKE SOME LOWS IN THE -30S POSSIBLE IN SOME AREAS.

FOR SUN...18Z/00Z GFS RUNS AND 12Z EUROPEAN INDICATING A LITTLE
WARMING AT 850 MB OVER THE ALASKA RANGE AND SOUTHERN INTERIOR...SO
HAVE ALLOWED HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR SUN TO CREEP UP TO AROUND -10F
IN THE THESE AREAS. FOR SUN NIGHT...12Z EUROPEAN AND 00Z GFS
INDICATING SOME SOUTHERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR AND
THIS MAY SPREAD MORE CLOUD COVER NORTHWARD WITH A LITTLE MORE
MODERATION OF TEMPERATURES.

GFS/EUROPEAN QPFS CONTINUE TO BE LIGHT AND SPOTTY...NOTHING
MORE THAN FLURRIES EXPECTED OVER THE NORTHERN ALASKA MAINLAND. A
CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS OVER WATER IN THE WESTERN MARINE AREAS.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.CLIMATE...LATE SUNDAY EVENING THE TEMPERATURE AT THE FAIRBANKS
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT DROPPED TO 37 BELOW. THIS BROKE THE OLD
RECORD LOW FOR THE DATE OF 36 BELOW WHICH WAS SET IN 1993. THE
HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 22 BELOW AT THE AIRPORT WAS JUST TWO DEGREES
SHY OF THE ALL-TIME RECORD LOW MAX TEMP OF 24 BELOW WHICH WAS
ESTABLISHED IN 1911 AND AGAIN IN 1942. SO FAR TODAY...THE LOW OF
37 BELOW SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT BROKE THE RECORD LOW OF 35 BELOW
SET WAY BACK IN 1904.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ225-AKZ226.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ206-AKZ218-AKZ219-AKZ220.

HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ225.
&&

CB/RF NOV 11

Event by event

1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R

When: November 21, 7:00 AM AKST to November 22, 4:00 AM AKST
Where: N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R forecast zone
Reported by: SNOTEL

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

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, November 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: 348392.