Name: High Wind in Alaska, October 12, 2011
Start: 2011-10-12T00:56
End: 2011-10-12T20:15
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 AFG wrote it up.

A low pressure center of 978 mb moved along the western Bering Sea on the 12th reaching the Bering strait on the morning of the 13th and weakening to 989 mb. the storm produced strong south to southeast winds on the 12th. Wind gusts reached up to 66 mph (57 knots) at the Teller AWSS and to 60 mph (52 knots) 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 Oct 11, 3:17 PM AKST, 9 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 11, 3:17 PM AKST, 9 hours 39 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
417 PM AKDT TUE OCT 11 2011

UPDATED ZONE 207 TO COASTAL FLOOD WARNING

.DISCUSSION...

UPPER AIR: A TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR AND A RIDGE OVER THE
WEST COAST WILL MOVE EAST. BY THU MORNING THE TROUGH WILL BE EAST
OVER CANADA AND THE RIDGE WILL BE OVER CENTRAL NORTHERN ALASKA
WITH A STRONG LOW PRESSURE OVER EASTERN RUSSIA.

SURFACE: A 987 MB LOW 880 NM SOUTHWEST OF SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND
WILL MOVE NORTHEAST. AT 4 PM AKDT THU...THE LOW WILL BE 983 MB 80
NM WEST OF GAMBELL. HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE WEST COAST WILL WEAKEN
AND MOVE INLAND TONIGHT AND WED. HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE BEAUFORT
SEA WILL WEAKEN OVER THE SOUTHERN BEAUFORT SEA WED AND WED NIGHT
AS A TROUGH FORMS ALONG THE ARCTIC COASTLINE. LOW PRESSURE WILL
DEVELOP OVER THE CHUKCHI SEA TONIGHT AND WED.

NORTH SLOPE: SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE IN RESPONSE TO GRADIENT
BETWEEN BEAUFORT SEA HIGH AND NORTHWEST BERING SEA LOW. WINDS OVER
THE BEAUFORT SEA WILL BE SLOWER TO RESPOND AS THE HIGH OVER THE
BEAUFORT SEA IS SLOW TO MOVE NORTH.

WEST COAST: SEE STATEMENTS FOR COASTAL FLOOD WARNING FOR ZONE
207... HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR ZONE 213... AND COASTAL FLOOD WATCH
FOR ZONE 213. ANY FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO BE MINOR. WINDS AND
WAVES WILL BE BEGIN SUBSIDING ON THU.

INTERIOR: THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR WILL CONTINUE WITH FLURRIES OR
LIGHT SNOW DUE TO LOW OVER GULF OF ALASKA FEEDING MOISTURE INTO
COLD ADVECTION FROM NORTHWEST. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS MAY BE AS
MUCH AS 2 INCHES FOR ZONE 226

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
COASTAL FLOOD WARNING FOR AKZ207.

HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR AKZ213.

COASTAL FLOOD WATCH FOR AKZ213.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ225-PKZ230-PKZ235.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225.
&&

DA OCT 11

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: October 12, 12:56 AM AKST to 8:15 PM AKST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Measured: 57 kt (66 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWSS

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, October 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: 342214.