Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, November 8 to 9, 2011

A 960 mb low over the southern Aleutians at 0300AKST on the 8th intensified to 945 mb near the Gulf of Anadyr by 2100AKST on the 8th. The low crossed the Chukotsk Peninsula as a 956 mb low at 0900AKST on the 9th, and moved into the southern Chukchi Sea as a 958 mb low by 2100AKST on the 9th. The low then tracked to the northwest and weakened to 975 mb about 150 miles north of Wrangel Island by 1500AKST on the 10th. The storm was one of the strongest storms to impact the west coast of Alaska since November 1974.

Zone 201: Blizzard conditions were observed at Wainwright from approximately 1153AKST through 1611AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 43kt (50 mph) at the Wainwright ASOS. During this event, there was also a peak wind gust to |68 kt (78 mph) at the Cape Lisburne AWOS.

Zone 202: Blizzard conditions were observed at Barrow from approximately 1021AKST through 1700AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 46 kt (53 mph) at the Barrow ASOS.

Zone 207: Blizzard conditions were observed at Kivalina from approximately 0400AKST through 1230AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter of a mile in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 61 kt (70 mph) at the Kivalina ASOS. The doors to the village transportation shed were blown out to sea. Many homes lost portions of their tin roofing, and satellite dishes were ripped off of roofs. One home had its door blown off. At Point Hope, severe blizzard conditions were observed. There was a peak wind gust of 68 kt (78 mph) at the Point Hope AWOS before power was lost to the AWOS. It was estimated that the wind gusted as high as 85 mph in the village during the height of the storm during the morning and early afternoon hours on the 9th. Five power poles were knocked down in the storm there were major power and phone line outages that continued at least until the 10th. A shack was blown away and hit a power pole and was broke into two pieces. Several other small shacks were blown away as were some fishing boats. Satellite dishes were blown off of roofs. Approximately 550 people in the village of 674 were evacuated to the school during the storm.

Zone 208: Blizzard conditions were observed at Noatak from approximately 0436AKST through 1516AKST on the 9th. The visibility was reduced to less than one quarter mile much of the time in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to |54 kt (62 mph) at the Noatak AWOS. Blizzard conditions were also observed at Kiana from approximately 0728AKST through 1400AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 47 kt (55 mph) at the Kiana AWOS.

Zone 209: Blizzard conditions were observed both along the Baldwin Peninsula and in the Selawik Valley. At Kotzebue, blizzard conditions were observed from approximately 0253AKST through 1153AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 64 kt (74 mph) at the Kotzebue ASOS. At Selawik, blizzard conditions were observed from approximately 0536AKST through 1316AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to less than one quarter mile in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 41 kt (47 mph) at the Selawik AWOS. At Noorvik, blizzard conditions were observed from approximately 0356AKST through 1358AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to less than one quarter mile in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 58 kt (67 mph) at the Noorvik AWOS.

Zone 210: Blizzard conditions were observed at Buckland from approximately 0256AKST through 0916AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to |50 kt (58 mph) at the Buckland AWOS. Blizzard conditions were also briefly observed at Deering during the early morning hours on the 9th, but the visibility was only reduced to one quarter of a mile for less than one hour. There was a peak wind gust to 53 kt (61 mph) at the Deering ASOS.

Zone 211: Blizzard conditions were observed at Nome from approximately 2008AKST on the 8th through 0300AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. A peak wind gust to 53 kt (61 mph) was observed at the Nome ASOS. A total of 4.8 inches of snow was observed at the NWS office in Nome on the 8th, with an additional 1.6 inches on the 9th for a storm total of 6.4 inches for the event. Blizzard conditions were also observed at Golovin from approximately 2336AKST on the 8th through 0236AKST on the 9th. There was a peak wind gust to 56 kt (64 mph) at the Golovin AWOS. A major impact of the storm was that the last regular autumn delivery of fuel to Nome was delayed; the barge carrying diesel fuel and gasoline was delayed by the storm, and then unable to make it to Nome as the winter sea ice rapidly developed in the week following the storm. In January 2012, the Russian tanker Renda was escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy through approximately 350 miles of ice up to four feet thick and successfully delivered 1.3 million gallons of fuel to Nome. This prevented the fuel from having to be flown into Nome at a much higher cost. This was the first-ever winter marine delivery of fuel to northwestern Alaska.

Zone 212: High winds were observed at Unalakleet from approximately 2300AKST on the 8th through 0130AKST on the 9th. There was a peak wind gust to 57 kt (66 mph) at the Unalakleet AWOS. High winds were observed at Saint Michael from approximately 2300AKST until Midnight AKST on the 8th. There was a peak wind gust to 59 kt (68 mph) at the Saint Michael AWSS. There were reports from the Saint Michael City Office that some homes had minor roof damage. High winds were also observed at Shaktoolik from approximately Midnight AKST through 0200AKST on the 9th. There was a peak wind gust to 56 kt (64 mph) at the Shaktoolik AWOS. It is also likely that heavy snow and local blizzard conditions occurred in areas around the eastern Norton Sound and across the Nulato hills, but there were no ground truth reports received.

Zone 213: Blizzard conditions and high winds were observed on Saint Lawrence Island as well as along the Bering Strait Coast. At Gambell, blizzard conditions were observed from 1656AKST through 2056AKST on the 8th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 64 kt (74 mph) at the Gambell AWOS. There were reports of minor damage to some buildings in the village. At Savoonga, blizzard conditions were observed from 1656AKST through 2136AKST on the 8th. The visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 66 kt (76 mph) at the Savoonga AWOS. There were reports of roof damage in the village and a few chimneys were blown over by the high winds. At Wales, blizzard conditions were observed much of the time from 1450AKST through 1806AKST on the 8th. There was a peak wind gust to 77 kt (89 mph) at the wales AWSS during the early morning hours on the 9th. There was some minor wind damage to buildings in the village. At Teller, blizzard conditions were observed from 1956AKST on the 8th through 0231AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 62 kt (71 mph) at the Teller AWSS. At Tin City, there was a peak wind gust of 74 kt (85 mph) at the Tin City AWOS. There was an unofficial report of a wind gust as high as 81 kt (93 mph) at Little Diomede during the event. At Brevig Mission, there were reports that two homes had minor roof damage and the power was reported to be off intermittently during the afternoon on the 9th.

Zone 214: Blizzard conditions and high winds were observed across much of the Yukon Delta during the afternoon of the 8th through the morning of the 9th. At Emmonak, blizzard conditions were observed during the evening of the 8th from 1836AKST until 2336AKST. The visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust of 54 kt (62 mph) at the Emmonak AWOS. VHF antennas in the village were blown down and communications were intermittent. At Mountain Village the AWSS was inoperable during the event, but there were reports that the power was knocked out during the storm and that two power poles were down at the airport making the airport inoperable for commercial flights. At Scammon Bay, the wind gusted as high as 63 kt (72 mph) at the Scammon Bay AWSS. There may have been a brief period of blizzard conditions during the late afternoon or early evening, but the visibility sensor became inoperable. Temperatures quickly moderated above freezing after 2100AKST which would have ended the blizzard conditions. At Saint Marys, the wind gusted as high as 53 kt (61 mph) at the AWOS during the evening hours. There were brief periods of blizzard conditions during the early evening, but the blizzard conditions did not last for 3 consecutive hours as temperatures quickly moderated to near freezing late in the evening which restricted the blowing snow. The high winds caused minor damage to the hanger at the airport as a piece of siding came lose and was destroyed. At Marshall, there was a peak wind gust of 56 kt (64 mph) at the Marshall AWSS during the evening. There was likely a short period of blizzard conditions, but the visibility sensor became inoperable for a time during the event.

Zone 217: Blizzard conditions were observed at Shungnak from approximately 1000AKST through 1330AKST on the 9th. The visibility was frequently reduced to one quarter mile or less in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust to 59 kt (68 mph) at the Shungnak AWOS.