Name: Blizzard in Alaska, January 20 to 21, 2012
Start: 2012-01-20T06:30
End: 2012-01-21T08:30
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 AFC wrote it up.

Strong high pressure over the Yukon Territory combined with an intense low in the Gulf of Alaska produced strong wind across the Chugach Mountains. This resulted in re suspending the snow and created blizzard conditions from Keystone Canyon through Thompson Pass.

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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 20, 5:00 AM AKST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 20, 5:00 AM AKST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK
500 AM AKST FRI JAN 20 2012

.MODEL DISCUSSION...
NUMERICAL GUIDANCE IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT FOR THE SHORT TERM
PORTION OF THE FORECAST. NO REAL PREFERENCE FOR THE MORNING
FORECAST. MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT EARLY IN THE LONG TERM
FORECAST...THEN DIVERGE SIGNIFICANTLY. USED A BLEND OF THE ECMWF AND
HPC GUIDANCE FOR THE EXTENDED.

.ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS...
LARGE BLOCKING HIGH OVER EXTREME NORTHEAST SIBERIA WITH A DOWNSTREAM
UPPER LOW OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA. NORTHEASTERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER
MOST OF ALASKA AND THE BERING SEA.

.SHORT TERM FORECAST...
THE SIBERIAN BLOCKING HIGH WILL SLOWLY DRIFT SOUTH THROUGH THE
WEEKEND. THE GULF LOW WILL MOVE EAST TODAY AND THEN INTO THE
PANHANDLE ON SATURDAY. ANOTHER UPPER LOW WILL DEVELOP OVER ALASKA ON
THE WEEKEND WITH INCREASING CYCLONIC FLOW OVER THE STATE. THIS LOW
WILL STRENGTHEN AND MOVE INTO THE WESTERN GULF SATURDAY NIGHT AND
SUNDAY. THIS WILL BRING MOISTURE TO SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA...WITH SNOW
LIKELY ALONG THE COAST SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...AND A CHANCE OF
SNOW INLAND ON SUNDAY.

FOR SOUTHWEST ALASKA AND THE EASTERN BERING SEA...NORTHERLY FLOW
ALOFT WILL INCREASE OVER THE WEEKEND...WITH ANOTHER SURGE OF VERY
COLD AIR MOVING INTO THE AREA.

.LONG TERM FORECAST...
A LONG WAVE TROUGH WILL GENERALLY BE OVER ALASKA THROUGH THE
EXTENDED PERIOD...WITH DECREASING CHANCES OF SNOW AND TEMPERATURES A
LITTLE BELOW NORMAL IN SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA...AND MUCH BELOW NORMAL
IN SOUTHWEST.

.AER/ALU...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...GALE WARNING 121 127 128 130 132 150 155 160 165 170 171
                       179 180 185.
         HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY 121 126 127 128 129 130 138 140 141
                       150 155 165 179 185.
FIRE WEATHER...NONE.

LUDWIG JAN 12

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Nern P.W. Snd

When: January 20, 6:30 AM AKST to January 21, 8:30 AM AKST
Where: Nern P.W. Snd forecast zone
Reported by: Department of Highways

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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2012 Every state in 2012 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, January 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: 354649.