Name: High Wind in Alaska, August 15, 2012
Start: 2012-08-15T12:52
End: 2012-08-15T16:58
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.

An unusually strong for August 982 mb low in the southern Chukchi Sea produced high winds at Teller along the Bering Strait Coast and at Cape Lisburne along the western Arctic Coast on the afternoon of the 15th.

Zone 201: The wind gusted as high as 72 mph/63 kt at the Cape Lisburne AWOS at 1320AKST. The wind frequently gusted as high as 60 mph/52 kt from approximately 1205AKST through 1622AKST.

Zone 213: At Teller there was a peak wind gust of 64 mph/56 kt at the Teller AWOS at 1558AKST on the 15th. The wind frequently gusted as high as 60 mph/52 kt from approximately 1252AKST through 1658AKST.

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 Aug 15, 12:10 PM AKST, 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 12:10 PM AKST, 42 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
110 PM AKDT WED AUG 15 2012

.DISCUSSION...
984 MB LOW NEAR 66N/179E IN EASTERN SIBERIA IS PROGGED BY
CURRENT MODELS TO MOVE TO THE GULF OF ANADYR BY 10 AM THURSDAY
FILLING TO 990 MB...WEAKENING FURTHER TO 994 MB BY 10 AM FRIDAY.
A 984 MB LOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AROUND 150 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
WRANGEL ISLAND THIS AFTERNOON...MOVING TO ABOUT 200 MILES
NORTHEAST OF WRANGEL ISLAND BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON. MOIST SOUTHWEST
FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE OVER NORTHWEST ALASKA THROUGH FRIDAY...WITH
RAIN CONTINUING OVER MUCH OF NORTHWEST ALASKA. THE HEAVIEST
AMOUNTS WILL BE ALONG SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST FACING MOUNTAIN SLOPES
IN ZONES 208-210-217.

THE NEXT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ON DECK IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN TO
DEVELOP ABOUT 500 MILES WEST OF ST MATTHEW ISLAND EARLY FRIDAY
MORNING AS A 992 MB CENTER. THIS LOW IS PROGGED TO DEEPEN TO
AROUND 990 MB EAST OF ST MATTHEW ISLAND BY EARLY SATURDAY
MORNING...BUT HAVE A STRONGER AND MORE EXPANSIVE CIRCULATION
REINFORCED BY A STRONG EASTWARD MOVING SHORT WAVE TROUGH ALOFT.
THIS SYSTEM WILL BRING MORE RAIN TO THE WEST COAST...NORTHWEST
ALASKA...AND THE WESTERN INTERIOR.

OVER THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR...SOUTHERLY FLOW ALONG
THE BACK SIDE OF AN UPPER RIDGE WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY.
HEIGHTS AND 850 MB TEMPERATURES WILL FALL SOME FRIDAY AS
THE UPPER RIDGE MOVES FARTHER EASTWARD INTO CANADA...BRINGING
IN MORE CLOUD COVER AND TRIMMING TEMPERATURES BACK DOWN TO NEAR
SEASONAL NORMALS.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL...
HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CHUKCHI SEA
COAST FROM RED DOG PORT TO POINT HOPE THROUGH NOON THURSDAY.
SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST WINDS 30-40 KT CONTINUING THROUGH THIS
EVENING...THEN SLOWLY DIMINISHING TO AROUND 20 KT BY MID DAY
THURSDAY. SEAS TO 7-11 FEET OFFSHORE THROUGH THIS EVENING WITH
TIDES 1.5 TO 2 FEET ABOVE NORMAL. WAVE HEIGHTS WILL DIMINISH
SOME AS THE WAVES BREAK ONSHORE. SEAS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH
LATER TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...WITH SEA LEVEL ELEVATION
FALLING TO ABOUT 1 FOOT ABOVE NORMAL. RED DOG TIDE GAGE IS
SHOWING TIDE CURRENTLY ABOUT 0.75-0.8 FOOT ABOVE NORMAL...A
LITTLE LESS THAN THE 1.0 FOOT PREDICTED BY THE STORM SURGE
MODEL.

ALONG THE BERING SEA COAST FROM WALES TO CAPE RODNEY...
SEA LEVELS WILL INCREASE TO 2 TO 2.5 FEET ABOVE NORMAL
BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON. MAXIMUM WINDS WILL BE SOUTH TO
AROUND 40 KT WITH SEAS TO 10-11 FEET OFFSHORE.

IN NORTON SOUND...SEA LEVELS IN NORTON SOUND WILL GRADUALLY RISE
THROUGH THURSDAY. MAXIMUM ELEVATION IN SEA LEVELS WILL BE 2 TO 3
FEET ALONG THE COAST FROM CAPE RODNEY TO UNALAKLEET...AND 1.3 TO
2 FEET FROM SOUTH OF UNALAKLEET TO THE YUKON DELTA. THE HIGHEST
ELEVATIONS IN SEA LEVEL...AROUND 3 FEET WILL BE IN NORTON BAY.
NO COASTAL FLOODING IS EXPECTED.

IN THE NOME AREA...THE MAXIMUM STORM SURGE WILL BE AROUND 2.5 FEET
DURING THE DAY THURSDAY...WITH MAXIMUM TIDES OF 4 TO 4.3 FEET.
HIGHEST WINDS OVER THE SOUND NEAR NOME ARE EXPECTED TO BE 30-35 KT
PRODUCING SEAS OFFSHORE TO 6-8 FEET. THESE CONDITIONS ARE NOT
EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE ENOUGH TO CAUSE ANY COASTAL FLOODING
OR BEACH EROSION PROBLEMS IN THE NOME AREA. THE TIDE AT
NOME IS CURRENTLY ABOUT 1.3 FEET ABOVE NORMAL.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
NO RED FLAG CONDITIONS EXPECTED.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...
HEAVY RAIN IS CONTINUING IN ZONE 207 AND PARTS OF ZONE 208.
RED DOG MINE HAS REPORTED 4.0 INCHES IN THE LAST 48 HRS.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT 48 HR TOTALS INCLUDE 3.3 INCHES AT TAHINICHOK
RAWS...2.4 INCHES AT KIVALINA...1.6 INCHES AT WULIK RIVER
AND 1.4 INCHES AT KELLY. RECENT 12 HR AMOUNTS INCLUDE 1.7 INCHES
AT RED DOG...1.2 INCHES AT TAHINICHOK...AND 1.1 INCHES AT
KIVALINA. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL OF 2 TO 4 INCHES IS EXPECTED IN
ZONES 207 AND 208 THROUGH FRIDAY. IN ZONE 217...RAINFALL OF
2 TO 4 INCHES IS EXPECTED IN SOME AREAS TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY.
SOME ADDITIONAL RAIN MAY OCCUR IN THESE AREAS SATURDAY. FLOOD
WATCH FOR ZONES 207-208 WILL BE UPGRADED TO A SMALL STREAM
FLOOD ADVISORY. FLOOD WATCH WILL BE ISSUED FOR ZONE 217.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-208...WILL BE ISSUED
 LATER THIS AFTERNOON.

FLOOD WATCH FOR AKZ217...WILL BE ISSUED LATER THIS AFTERNOON.

HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR AKZ207.

FLOOD WATCH FOR AKZ207-AKZ208.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ230.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ235-PKZ240.
&&

RF AUG 12

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait

When: August 15, 12:52 PM AKST to 4:58 PM AKST
Where: St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
Measured: 56 kt (64 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 2012 Every state in 2012 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, August 2012

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: 405466.