Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast
- When
- January 23, 1:00 AM AKST to January 27, 7:00 PM AKST
- Where
- Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS
Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 23 to 27, 2012
Temperatures of 30 to 40 below zero combined with a west wind of 15 to 25 mph to produce wind chills as low as 71 below zero at the Barter Island AWOS. The wind chills were 60 below zero or lower from approximately 0100AKST on the 23rd through 1900AKST on the 27th or for a total of 114 hours.
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 40 below zero combined with a west wind of 15 to 25 mph to produce wind chills as low as 71 below zero at the Barter Island AWOS. The wind chills were 60 below zero or lower from approximately 0100AKST on the 23rd through 1900AKST on the 27th or for a total of 114 hours.
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 22, 1:44 PM AKST, 11 hours 16 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 22, 1:44 PM AKST, 11 hours 16 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 144 PM AKST SUN JAN 22 2012 .DISCUSSION... THE MODELS CONTINUE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH TUESDAY. ALOFT...UPPER TROUGH PERSISTS THROUGH MID-WEEK OVER CENTRAL ALASKA AND COLD AIR GETS COLDER. SOME MODERATION POSSIBLE BY NEXT WEEKEND. SURFACE...LOW OVER NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA WILL FILL SLOWLY BUT PERSIST THERE WHILE LOW IN THE HIGH ARCTIC CONTINUES TO MOVE SOUTH. THUS THE PRESSURE GRADIENT ACROSS CENTRAL ALASKA WILL CONTINUE TIGHT AND ALONG WITH THE COLD TEMPERATURES WILL PRODUCE WIND CHILL ADVISORIES ACROSS MOST OF THE CENTRAL ALASKA. THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS ACROSS THE ARCTIC COAST WHICH WILL SEE AREAS OF STRATUS AND PATCHY FOG. PERIODS OF LIGHT SNOW WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF LESS THAN ONE INCH OVER THE CENTRAL INTERIOR THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT...SHOULD END BY MORNING. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ206-AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ209-AKZ210- AKZ212-AKZ213-AKZ216-AKZ217-AKZ219-AKZ220-AKZ221-AKZ222. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ214. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ210. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ220. && RL 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
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Alabama, January 23, 2012
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Alabama, January 23, 2012
- Damaging Winds in Indiana, January 23, 2012
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Michigan, January 23, 2012
- Damaging Winds in Kentucky, January 23, 2012
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, January 23, 2012
- Dense Fog in Maryland, January 23, 2012
- Winter Weather in Colorado, January 23 to 24, 2012
- Winter Storm and Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 23 to 26, 2012
- Dense Fog in Maryland, January 23 to 24, 2012
- Dense Fog in West Virginia, January 23 to 24, 2012
- Damaging Winds in Indiana, January 23, 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: 355323.