3 with several low centers and complex frontal systems. 4 causing high winds for Prince of Whales Island and the Clarence Strait area.
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.
The episode as NWS AJK wrote it up.
Another monster storm covered the entire Gulf of Alaska on 1.3 with several low centers and complex frontal systems. A storm force low center moved north along the eastern Gulf coast during the early morning hours on 1.4 causing high winds for Prince of Whales Island and the Clarence Strait area. The storm weakened with a main surface low forming in the northern Gulf on the afternoon-evening of 1.4 but heavy snow persisted in the Haines area into 1.5. Downtown Haines got a storm total of 15.6 inches of new snow during this storm while Haines Customs measured 13.0 inches storm total.
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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 3, 4:05 PM AKST, 4 hours 55 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
405 PM AKST TUE JAN 3 2012
.SHORT TERM...COMPLEX PATTERN IS SITUATED OVER THE GULF OF
ALASKA. PARENT LOW ABUT 52/150 HAS ONE LOW/FRONT MOVING ACROSS
THE HORTEN PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING. ANOTHER DEVELOPING
FEATURE IN THE EAST PACIFIC ON THE LONG FRONT THAT IS DEVELOPING
AND PULLING NORTH. MODELS WERE INDICATING A RAPID DEEPENING AND
IS TO MOVE NORTH TO JUST WEST OF DIXON ENTRANCE AROUND 12Z AND A
DEPTH AROUND 973 MB OR SO. A TIGHT WIND PATTERN WITH IT WILL
SPREAD STORM FORCE INTO CLARENCE STRAIT AND GALES INTO THE OTHER
SURROUNDING MARINE AREAS. THIS SYSTEM WILL ALSO REINFORCE THE
WARMER AIR ACROSS THE PANHANDLE AREA. AS THE NEXT LOW MOVES TO
THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE THE NORTH WINDS (UP TO GALES) WILL
REDEVELOP EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING AS WELL.
PRECIPITATION PATTERN A LITTLE DIFFICULT AS WELL. MODELS TRYING
TO SHOW A FAIRLY GOOD WARM UP OVER THE CENTRAL PANHANDLE WITH THE
RAIN LINE MOVING MOVING NORTH OF JUNEAU AND GUSTAVUS TONIGHT...
BUT FOR NOW HAVE HELD THE LINE JUST SOUTH OF THOSE AREAS THROUGH
WEDNESDAY MORNING AND THEN SHOVED THE THE LINE NORTH IN THE
AFTERNOON. SO AS A RESULT THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE PANHANDLES
FORECAST IS FOR SNOW AND RAIN TO THE SOUTH OF THERE. WILL MENTION
SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS FOR THE SOUTHERN THIRD ON WEDNESDAY AS
THE SATELLITE DERIVED TOTAL PRECIPATIAL WATER IS 1 TO 1.25 INCHES
WITH THE DEVELOPING SYSTEM WITH ITS MID TROPICAL SOURCE REGION.
HAVE JUST GONE WITH STRONG WIND HEADLINES FOR UP TO 55 MPH LATE
TONIGHT/EARLY WEDNESDAY WITH THE SYSTEM BUT WILL NEED TO KEEP AN
EYE ON IT AS SOME EARLIER THINKING HAD THE POTENTIAL FOR A HEIGHT
WIND EVENT FOR THE REGION AROUND SOUTHERN PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND.
.LONG TERM...HIGHLY PROGRESSIVE AND ACTIVE PATTERN OVER A RANGE OF SCALES.
CHANGES ARE SMALL AND CONFIDENCE IS AVERAGE.
BY 12Z SAT THE EC IS SYNOPTICALLY SLOWER THAN THE GFS FOR A
TRIPLE POINT MOVG N INTO THE ERN GLFALSK. IS ONE SENSE THIS IS
NOT A LARGE DIFFERENCE BECAUSE OF HOW FAST THE PROGRESSION IS
18Z SAT A 960 MB SHOULD BE ABOUT 150 NM SE OF PADQ ALBEIT THE MODEL
SPREAD IS LARGE ON LOCATION.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...STRONG WIND FROM MIDNIGHT AKST TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING
FOR AKZ027.
STRONG WIND FROM MIDNIGHT AKST TONIGHT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT FOR
AKZ023-028-029.
MARINE...STORM WARNING FOR PKZ036.
GALE WARNING FOR PKZ012-013-021-022-031>035-041>043.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ011-051-052.
&&
BEZENEK/JBT2 winter storm, 2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Downtown Haines measured 11.8 additional inches of new snow on the morning of 1.4 and Haines Customs measured an additional 9.0 inches of new snow on the morning of 1.4. Downtown Haines got a storm total of 15.6 inches of new snow during this storm while Haines Customs measured 13.0 inches storm total.
Klawock ASOS had a maximum gust of 54 MPH on the morning of 1.4. Nearby reports of spotters near Clarence Strait on the other side of Prince of Wales reported 100 KT gusts. Hydaburg AWOS had a maximum gust of 53 MPH that morning.
A trained spotter estimated gusts up to 100 KT during the early morning of 1.4. Trees were downed across roads and power outages of several hours occurred.
Downtown Haines measured 3.8 additional inches of new snow on the morning of 1.5 and Haines Customs measured an additional 4.0 inches of new snow on the morning of 1.5. Downtown Haines got a storm total of 15.6 inches of new snow during this storm while Haines Customs measured 13.0 inches storm total.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, January 2012
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: 358229, 358225, 358226, 358227.