Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, February 28, 2012
Start: 2012-02-28T01:00
End: 2012-02-28T11:00
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.

Temperatures of 30 to 34 below combined with a west wind of 15 to 17 mph to produce wind chills as low as 63 below at the Barter Island AWOS. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 0100AKST through 1100AKST on the 28th.

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 Feb 28, 12:05 AM AKST, 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 12:05 AM AKST, 55 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
1205 AM AKST TUE FEB 28 2012

.DISCUSSION...
WEATHER PATTERN OVER THE FORECAST AREA CONTINUES TO GRADUALLY
QUIET DOWN AS THE SURFACE LOW OVER THE NERN GULF OF AK CONTINUES
TO SLOWLY FILL. SOME LEFTOVER FLURRIES WILL HANG ON TODAY AND
TONIGHT OVER PARTS OF THE CNTRL AND ERN INTERIOR. LOCAL WIND CHILL
WILL LIKELY REMAIN AN ISSUE OVER THE NRN WEST COAST ZONES AND IN
BROOKS RANGE PASSES.

IN THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD...OPERATIONAL MODELS AND ENSEMBLE
MEANS IN GOOD AGREEMENT PROGGING ANOTHER MODERATE SURFACE SYSTEM
TO MOVE EWD ALONG THE ALEUTIAN CHAIN...TAKING UP RESIDENCE IN THE
NRN GULF OF AK BY FRI. WINDS LIKELY BEGINNING TO INCREASE AGAIN
OVER MOST AREAS SOUTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE BEGINNING WED NIGHT AS
THE EWD MOVING LOW RETIGHTENS THE PRESSURE GRADIENT. THIS SYSTEM
COULD ALSO BRING SOME SNOW INITIALLY TO THE PARTS OF THE WESTERN
INTERIOR...SNOW GRADUALLY WORKING ITS WAY EWD LATER IN THE THE
EXTENDED PERIOD. COLD AIRMASS AND BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES
LIKELY REMAINING OVER THE FORECAST AREA INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT
WEEK.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ208-AKZ209-AKZ210.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ206-AKZ207-AKZ213-AKZ218.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225.
&&

RF FEB 12

Event by event

1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast

When: February 28, 1:00 AM AKST to 11:00 AM AKST
Where: Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

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, February 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: 358781.