Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R
- When
- January 21, 6:00 AM AKST to January 25, 1:00 PM AKST
- Where
- N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS
Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 21 to 25, 2012
Temperatures of 40 to 45 below combined with a northeast wind of 15 to 25 mph at Atigun Pass to produce wind chills as low as 82 below zero. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 0600AKST on the 21st through 1300AKST on the 25th.
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 40 to 45 below combined with a northeast wind of 15 to 25 mph at Atigun Pass to produce wind chills as low as 82 below zero. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 0600AKST on the 21st through 1300AKST on the 25th. Wind chills of 60 below or lower were also observed at Anaktuvuk Pass from approximately 0300AKST on the 22nd through 1700AKST on the 25th. Temperatures of around 35 below combined with a northeast wind of 20 to 30 mph to produce wind chills as low as 71 below zero.
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 Jan 21, 3:15 AM AKST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 3:15 AM AKST, 2 hours 45 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 315 AM AKST SAT JAN 21 2012 .DISCUSSION... MODELS IN DECENT AGREEMENT THROUGH 60 HOURS. HIGH IN FAR EAST RUSSIA WILL WEAKEN AND THE AXIS WILL MOVE SLIGHTLY WESTWARD. TROUGH EXTENDS WEST AND SOUTHWARD TO THE GULF OF ALASKA AND WILL CONTINUE TO POUR MUCH COLDER AIR INTO MAINLAND ALASKA WITH TROUGH TO SET UP AND MAINTAIN THE PRESENCE OVER ALASKA THROUGH THE NEXT WEEK. AS LOW CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHWARD IN THE GULF OF ALASKA AND HIGH PUSHES SOUTHWARD OVER THE HIGH ARCTIC...THE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE OVER NORTHERN ALASKA AS COLDER AIR POURS IN. THIS WILL DEVELOP COLD WIND CHILLS OVER THE NORTHERN TIER OF MAINLAND ALASKA. WINDS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH OVER THE ARCTIC COAST BY LATER TONIGHT. SHORT WAVE OVER NORTHEASTERN INTERIOR IS SPREADING SOME CLOUDS AND FLURRIES OVER THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE STATE WHILE THE CLOUDS QUICKLY DECREASE. A STRONG UPPER HIGH IN EASTERN RUSSIA WHICH WEAKENS AND DRIFTS INTO THE WESTERN BERING SEA IN THE SHORT TERM ALLOWS A COLD LOW TO PLUNGE SOUTHWEST OUT OF THE CANADIAN ARCTIC AND INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA AT THE START OF THE MEDIUM RANGE EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE MEDIUM RANGE WILL START WITH A VERY COLD AIR MASS ACROSS NORTHERN AK. IT LOOKS LIKE THE COLD AIR MASS WILL REMAIN IN PLACE NEXT WEEK. BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF HAVE 850 MB TEMPS OF -20C OR COLDER ACROSS ALL OF NORTHERN AK AND AS COLD AS -35C IN THE BROOKS RANGE. THIS WILL MEAN CONTINUED BELOW TO WELL BELOW AVERAGE TEMPS ALL WEEK. THE NCEP RMOPS SHOW SOME WEAKENING OF THE LOW WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER HEIGHTS AND MORE ZONAL FLOW ACROSS THE AREA BY NEXT WEEKEND. THE OPERATIONAL MODELS ARE NOT SO CONVINCED. GIVEN THE STRONG BLOCKING NATURE OF THE PATTERN WOULD SIDE WITH THE IDEA THAT THE COLD AIR HANGS IN PLACE ACROSS THE INTERIOR AT LEAST INTO THE LAST WEEKEND OF JANUARY. A BETTER CHANCE OF SOME MODERATION OF THE AIR MASS ACROSS SOUTHWEST AK BY NEXT WEEKEND. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ217-AKZ218. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ240-PKZ245. && CF JAN 12
Event by event
1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, January 21, 2012
- Winter Weather in Delaware, January 21, 2012
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Georgia, January 21, 2012
- High Wind in California, January 21 to 23, 2012
- Winter Storm and Flooding in Utah, January 21 to 22, 2012
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Tennessee, January 21, 2012
- Dust Storm and Heavy Snow in California, January 21, 2012
- Flash Flood and Hail in Nevada, January 21, 2012
- Flooding in Idaho, January 21, 2012
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, January 21, 2012
- Winter Weather in New Jersey, January 21, 2012
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Massachusetts, January 21, 2012
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 355120.