4. 5 inches of new snow for Pelican and over the Cross Sound area.
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 AJK wrote it up.
A moderate strength frontal system moved onto the Eastern Gulf Coast on the afternoon of Friday 11.4. Warm moist air aloft moved over cold air causing 6.5 inches of new snow for Pelican and over the Cross Sound area. Gustavus measured 4.6 inches of new snow that afternoon.
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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 4, 4:55 AM AKST, 6 hours 42 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
555 AM AKDT FRI NOV 4 2011
.SHORT TERM...A WELL DEFINED BAROCLINIC CLOUD SHIELD HAS PUSHED
IN OVER THE PANHANDLE OVERNIGHT AND IS NOW MOSTLY OVER BRITISH
COLUMBIA. THE ASSOCIATED OCCLUDED FRONT IS STILL WELL OFFSHORE
BUT WILL ARRIVE OVER THE OUTER COAST LATER TODAY. THE PARENT LOW
WILL TRACK TO THE EAST ALONG THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE GULF
THROUGH THE DAY AND THEN BEGIN TO DRIFT TO THE SOUTHEAST OVER THE
EASTERN GULF OVERNIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT WHILE WEAKENING. MEANWHILE,
HIGH PRESSURE OVER CANADA THAT BROUGHT COLD SURFACE TEMPERATURES
TO SOUTHEAST ALASKA EARLIER THIS WEEK HAS BEGUN TO WEAKEN AND SAG
TO THE SOUTHEAST. PRECIPITATION IN THE FORM OF SNOW BEGAN
OVERNIGHT OVER WESTERN AND NORTHERN ZONES AND WILL CONTINUE TO
MAKE PROGRESS TO THE SOUTH AND EAST AS THE DAY PROGRESSES.
BELIEVE ENOUGH COLD AIR WILL REMAIN IN PLACE OVER THE FAR
NORTHERN INNER CHANNELS, TO INCLUDE JUNEAU, THAT PRECIP WILL
REMAIN AS SNOW THROUGH THE DAY AND NIGHT. HAVE UP TO 5 INCHES IN
THE FORECAST FOR JUNEAU WITH LESSER AMOUNTS ELSEWHERE OVER THE
COURSE OF THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ELSEWHERE, WARM AIR ADVECTION
ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT WILL RESULT IN A TRANSITION TO A
RAIN-SNOW MIX OVER MOST LOCATIONS LATER TODAY, AND THEN TO
STRAIGHT RAIN LATER ON. DIURNAL TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS WILL BE
SLIGHT AND SOME LOCATIONS WILL SEE A GRADUAL RISE THROUGH THE
NIGHT AS WARMER LOW LEVEL AIR PUSHES THE ARCTIC FRONT TO THE
EAST.
WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE APPROACHING FRONT ARE NOT NEARLY AS
STRONG AS WHAT SOUTHEAST ALASKA HAS EXPERIENCED OVER THE PAST
SEVERAL WEEKS. SOUTHEASTERLY GALES IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT EXTEND
AS FAR SOUTH AS CAPE EDGECUMBE OVER THE COASTAL MARINE ZONES WITH
SMALL CRAFT WINDS AND SEAS FARTHER SOUTH. HAVE LOW END GALES IN
THE FORECAST FOR LATER THIS MORNING FOR CROSS SOUND AND FOR FAR
NORTHERN PORTIONS OF WEST ARM IN GLACIER BAY. LATER TONIGHT, AM
EXPECTING LOW END GALES OVER CLARENCE STRAIT AS WELL. SMALL CRAFT
ADVISORIES AT VARIOUS TIMES FOR THE REMAINING INNER CHANNELS
EXCEPT UPPER AND LOWER LYNN CANAL AND NORTHERN CHATHAM STRAIT
WHERE WINDS NOT EXPECTED TO EXCEED 20 KTS. HAVE ALSO INCLUDED A
STRONG WIND HEADLINE FOR ZONES 22 AND 23 FOR LATER THIS MORNING
FOR A BRIEF PERIOD OF 40 MPH GUSTS IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT.
STRONGEST GUSTS WILL BE LIMITED TO THE OUTER COAST.
USED ECMWF AS A FOUNDATION FOR THE SHORT TERM FORECAST BASED ON
SUPERIOR DEPICTION OF MID LEVEL MOISTURE, JET STREAM STRENGTH AND
LOCATION, AND SURFACE PRESSURE INITIALIZATION. USED NAM WIND
SPEEDS TO CAPTURE HIGH RESOLUTION WIND DETAILS. BLENDED GFS, NAM,
AND GEM FOR POP GRIDS AND QPF. TEMPERATURES, SNOW LEVELS, AND DEW
POINTS FROM NAM. FORECAST CONFIDENCE IS ABOVE AVERAGE.
.LONG TERM...A PROGRESSIVE PATTERN OF POLAR FRONT ZONE WAVES WILL
PERSIST WITH STRONGEST SUSTAINED WINDS TYPICALLY OF 30 KT.
A SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT CHANGE WAS MADE TO THE TEMPERATURE
FORECASTS FOR SAT AND SAT NIGHT. THIS RAISING OF FORECAST
TEMPERATURES IS ONLY 1-2F AND IS ASSOCIATED WITH A MORE RAPID
CHANGE FROM SNOW TO RAIN FOR SAT AND SAT NIGHT. OTHER CHANGES IN
THE LONG RANGE PACKAGE ARE ARE SMALL. CONFIDENCE IS AVERAGE. THE
MOST USED MODEL WAS THE 04.00 EC, BUT SEVERAL OTHERS WERE USED AS
MENTIONED IN A SECTION ON THE MODELS GIVEN BELOW.
THE SYSTEM IN THE GULF DISCUSSED IN THE SHORT RANGE SECTION ABOVE
HAS A 985 MB LOW ABOUT 100 NM S OF PAWD AT THIS TIME. THIS LOW
WILL FILL WHILE TRACKING E. 12Z SAT THE MSLP REMAINS OF THIS
SYSTEM WILL BE SEVERAL SHALLOW SEVERAL WEAK LOW PRESSURE OF
CENTERS IN THE VICINITY OF A LINE BETWEEN PAWD AND HAIDA GWAII,
WITH NO CENTER DEEPER THAN 992 MB.
A 500H RIDGE MOVING EWD ACROSS THE GULF WILL REACH LINE EXTENDING
N FM NPAC TO OVER PACV AT 00Z SUN. AS A RESULT, THE WEAK LOWS IN
THE ERN GULF, DISCUSSED IN THE PARAGRAPH ABOVE, WILL DISSIPATE.
THE RIDGE ALOFT WILL SLOWLY LOSE AMPLITUDE BY THE TIME IT REACHES
A PASI-PAJN LN 12Z SUN.
MODELS: A CONSENSUS AMONG EC/UKMET/NAM AND THE SREF WAS USEFUL.
TERRAIN ISSUES ON SHALLOW LOW LEVEL LOWS IN EASTERN GULF RESULTED
IN AN EMPHASIS ON THE EC AND NAM SOLUTIONS.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...STRONG WIND FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 1 PM AKDT THIS AFTERNOON
FOR AKZ022-023.
MARINE...GALE WARNING FOR PKZ011-022-036-043-051-052.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ021-031-033>035-041-042.
&&
FRITSCH/JBT1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Pelican measured 6.5 inches of new snow which fell on the afternoon of Friday, 11.4. Gustavus got less with 4.6 inches new snowfall that afternoon.
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, November 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: 352784.