High Wind, St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait
- When
- December 21, 12:16 AM AKST to 6:58 AM AKST
- Where
- St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait forecast zone
- Measured
- 63 kt (72 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- AWSS
High Wind in Alaska, December 21, 2012
Strong southeast winds occurred over Saint Lawrence Island and the Bering Strait Coast during the early morning of the 21st as a weather front associated with a low over Far East Russia moved east across the Bering Sea. High Winds were reported at Wales, where the AWSS reported wind gusts as high as 63 kts (74 mph) and at Savoonga, where the AWOS reported wind gusts as high as 56 kts (64 mph).
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.
Strong southeast winds occurred over Saint Lawrence Island and the Bering Strait Coast during the early morning of the 21st as a weather front associated with a low over Far East Russia moved east across the Bering Sea.
High Winds were reported at Wales, where the AWSS reported wind gusts as high as 63 kts (74 mph) and at Savoonga, where the AWOS reported wind gusts as high as 56 kts (64 mph).
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 20, 3:06 PM AKST, 9 hours 10 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 20, 3:06 PM AKST, 9 hours 10 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 306 PM AKST THU DEC 20 2012 .DISCUSSION... MODELS IN DECENT AGREEMENT THROUGH ABOUT 60 HOURS. UPPER LEVEL TROUGH EXITING THE STATE TO THE EAST WHILE THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE PUSHES EAST OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF THE STATE. THE WARM AIR PUSH STARTS TONIGHT AND CONTINUES OVER THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE STATE. THE RIDGE AXIS SHRINKS AND COMPRESSES ON SAT AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW SLIDES DOWN THE ALCAN BORDER AND THEN MOVES WEST AND UNDERCUTS THE UPPER HIGH. THE UPPER LOW WILL MOVE WEST TO NEAR GALENA BY LATE SUN NIGHT. THIS WILL PICK UP GULF OF ALASKA AIR AND MOVE IT NORTH AND BRING THE TEMPERATURES UP SLIGHTLY OVER THE CENTRAL INTERIOR MON AND TUE. A DEEP LOW WILL MOVE INTO THE BERING SEA BY TUE AND THE FRONTAL PRECIP BAND WILL HIT THE WEST COAST BY TUE EVENING. IF THIS HOLDS TRUE THEN A GOOD WARM UP FOR NORTHERN ALASKA WILL BE ON TAP FOR THE MIDDLE PORTION OF NEXT WEEK. IT APPEARS THAT SOME OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL MAKE IT THROUGH TO THE INTERIOR AT THIS POINT. IN THE NEAR TERM...WIND CHILLS WILL BE AN ISSUE IN ZONE 226 IN THE EASTERN ALASKA RANGE WHERE COLD AIR IS BOTTLED UP AND THE HIGH PRESSURE IS GENERATING A DECENT GRADIENT IN THAT AREA. STRONG WIND OVER A PORTION OF THE WEST COAST INCLUDING THE ST LAWRENCE ISLAND AREA WILL BE IN EFFECT DUE TO THE BUILDING SURFACE HIGH AND THE STRONG LOW IN EASTERN SIBERIA. THIS WILL PUSH SNOW INTO THE ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND FRI. THE HIGH IN THE EASTERN INTERIOR WILL BEGIN TO WEAKEN ON FRI. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ209-AKZ226. DENSE FOG ADVISORY FOR AKZ222. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ225. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ215-PKZ220. && CF DEC 12
Event by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Winter Storm and High Wind in Vermont, December 21 to 23, 2012
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in California, December 21 to 23, 2012
- Winter Storm and Avalanche in California, December 21 to 24, 2012
- High Surf in Puerto Rico, December 21 to 25, 2012
- Coastal Flood in Maryland, December 21, 2012
- Winter Storm in Pennsylvania, December 21 to 22, 2012
- Winter Storm in Ohio, December 21 to 22, 2012
- Coastal Flood in Virginia, December 21, 2012
- Flooding and Coastal Flood in New Jersey, December 21 to 23, 2012
- High Wind in New York, December 21, 2012
- Winter Storm and Dense Fog in California, December 21 to 27, 2012
- Winter Storm in New York, December 21 to 22, 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: 423465.