Blizzard, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait
- When
- December 16, 8:16 PM AKST to December 17, 7:56 AM AKST
- Where
- St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS
Blizzard in Alaska, December 16 to 17, 2012
A 989 mb low tracked northeast across the north Bering Sea on the 16th and 17th. Visibilities were reduced to one-quarter mile or less at Gambell and Savoonga late on the 16th through mid-morning of the 17th.
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 989 mb low tracked northeast across the north Bering Sea on the 16th and 17th. Visibilities were reduced to one-quarter mile or less at Gambell and Savoonga late on the 16th through mid-morning of the 17th.
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 Dec 16, 3:35 PM AKST, 4 hours 41 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 16, 3:35 PM AKST, 4 hours 41 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 335 PM AKST SUN DEC 16 2012 .DISCUSSION... ACTIVE PATTERN FOR NORTHERN ALASKA AS NEXT...WITH FAST MOVING POLAR-TYPE LOW JUST WEST OF ST MATTHEW ISLAND AT 23Z AND HEADED TOWARD OR JUST EAST OF ST LAWRENCE ISLAND OVERNIGHT AND THEN INTO INTERIOR BY MON NIGHT...THO GREATLY WEAKENED. 1015 MB HIGH OVER CENTRAL INTERIOR ALASKA DRFTG EWD AND BUILDING TO 1020 MB OVER THE CENTRAL YT BY 9AM TUE. OLD COLD FRONT OVER CENTRAL NORTH SLOPE DISSIPATING. ALOFT...TROUGH ALONG THE DATELINE ASSOCD WITH DEEP COLD LOW WELL NW OF WRANGEL ISLAND MOVING EWD INTO THE CENTRAL INTERIOR WED. SHORT WAVE TROF FROM SW MAINLAND INTO CENTRAL INTERIOR MOVG E BUT PRSTG THRU MID-WEEK. BIG RIDGE BUILDING OVR THE BERING SEA THU...BUT THE EVOLUTION OF THIS RIDGE THEREAFTER REMAINS A SOURCE OF MAJOR DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN MID-RANGE MODELS. NORTH SLOPE...CLOUDS...AND ALONG THE CHUKCHI COAST LIGHT ONSHORE WINDS HAVE ALL CONSPIRED TO MODERATE TEMPS...BUT THIS WILL BE SHORT-LIVED AS CLEARING LIKELY BY WED. WEST COAST...BLIZ WARNINGS AND WWA FOR SRN WEST CST ZONES CONT. THIS IS WILL BE A SHORT DURATION EVENT BUT MODELS LIKELY UNDERESTIMATING THE INTENSITY. FOLLOWING THE LOW...A SHOT OF QUITE COLD AIR POURS DOWN THE WEST SIDE AND WIND CHILLS COULD WELL BE AN ISSUE MON NIGHT/TUE WEST OF 165W. INTERIOR...SOME CLOUDS AND A LITTLE SNOW MAY MAKE IT AS FAR EAST AS CENTRAL INTERIOR MON NIGHT/TUE FROM REMNANTS OF WEST CST LOW BUT THAT MAY WAIT TIL THE MAIN TROUGH MOVES EWD WED. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ209-AKZ217-AKZ219-AKZ221. BLIZZARD WARNING FOR AKZ213-AKZ214. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ211-AKZ212. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ220. && RT DEC 12
Event by event
1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Blizzard
- Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind in Oregon, December 16 to 17, 2012
- High Wind in Washington, December 16 to 17, 2012
- Debris Flow in Washington, December 16, 2012
- High Wind in Wyoming, December 16 to 17, 2012
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Colorado, December 16 to 19, 2012
- Heavy Snow and High Wind in Washington, December 16 to 17, 2012
- Winter Storm in Utah, December 16 to 19, 2012
- Winter Storm and High Wind in Wyoming, December 16 to 17, 2012
- Dense Fog in Maryland, December 16 to 18, 2012
- Winter Storm in Wyoming, December 16 to 18, 2012
- Winter Storm and Heavy Snow in Montana, December 16 to 18, 2012
- High Wind in Texas, December 16, 2012
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 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: 423417.