Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Central Beaufort Sea Coast
- When
- March 10, 8:30 AM AKST to 10:00 PM AKST
- Where
- Central Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
- Reported by
- ASOS
Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 10, 2012
At Deadhorse, temperatures of 27 to 31 below zero combined with a southwest wind of 20 to 25 mph to produce wind chills as low as 64 below. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 1230AKST through 2015AKST on the 10th.
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.
At Deadhorse, temperatures of 27 to 31 below zero combined with a southwest wind of 20 to 25 mph to produce wind chills as low as 64 below. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 1230AKST through 2015AKST on the 10th. At Kuparuk, temperatures of 25 to 42 below zero combined with a southwest wind of 20 to 25 mph to produce wind chills as low as 74 below. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 0830AKST through 2200AKST on the 10th. The ending time of the wind chills was estimated as there are no observations during the evening and overnight hours. At Nuiqsut, temperatures of 29 to 36 below zero combined with a southwest winds of 15 to 20 mph to produce wind chills as low as 65 below. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 1130AKST through 1530AKST on the 10th.
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 Mar 10, 6:16 AM AKST, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 10, 6:16 AM AKST, 2 hours 14 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 616 AM AKST SAT MAR 10 2012 .DISCUSSION... INTERIOR... LIGHT SNOW HAS TAPERED OFF TO FLURRIES ACROSS THE INTERIOR THIS MORNING AS THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM HAS WEAKENED AND ONLY AREAS OF STRATUS REMAIN OVER MOST OF THE INTERIOR. THE UPPER TROUGH WILL REMAIN OVER THE INTERIOR THIS WEEKEND. CLOUDS AND FLURRIES WILL PERSIST INTO SUNDAY. WEST COAST...WINDS WILL REMAIN AT OR ABOVE 15 MPH ALONG THE BERING STRAIT COAST IN ZONE 213 AND ZONE 207 WHERE WIND CHILL ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT. WIND CHILL ADVISORIES WERE EXTENDED TO SUNDAY MORNING AS WINDS AND TEMPS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO IMPROVE IN THESE AREAS. NORTH SLOPE...COLD TEMPERATURES REMAIN OVER THE NORTH SLOPE. HIGH PRESSURE OVER SIBERIA WILL CONTINUE TO INFLUENCE THE WESTERN NORTH SLOPE. A PRESSURE GRADIENT INCREASE OVER THE EASTERN NORTH SLOPE WILL INCREASE THE WEST WINDS THIS AFTERNOON AND PRODUCE WIND CHILLS OF 55 BELOW INTO SUNDAY MORNING. WIND CHILL ADVISORIES HAVE BEE ISSUED FOR ZONES 203 AND 204. VERY LITTLE CHANGE IN THE FORECAST PHILOSOPHY DURING THE MEDIUM RANGE. A DEEP MEAN UPPER TROUGH EXTENDS FROM THE BEAUFORT SEA TO THE SOUTHWEST MAINLAND AND INTO THE GULF OF AK MON NIGHT. THE LOW CENTER SLOWLY MIGRATES TO THE VCNTY OF THE BERING STRAIT BY FRI...BUT WITH MUCH OF NORTHERN AK UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE COLD LOW ALOFT. TEMPS WILL CONTINUE TO AVERAGE BELOW NORMAL...AND LIKELY WELL BELOW NORMAL ACROSS MUCH THE AREA WEST OF 155W. THE PATTERN CONTINUE TO LOOK MAINLY DRY FOR THE FORECAST AREA AS SYSTEMS GENERALLY MOVE ALONG OR NEAR THE ALEUTIAN CHAIN AND INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA. WIND CHILL ISSUES LIKELY AT TIMES THROUGH MUCH OF THE WEEK...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE WESTERN CAPES AND THROUGH THE BERING STRAIT. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ203-AKZ204-AKZ207-AKZ213. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ245. && JK MAR 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
- Marine Strong Wind in Lake Michigan, March 10, 2012
- Flooding in Idaho, March 10 to 20, 2012
- Wildfire in Illinois, March 10, 2012
- Wildfire in Georgia, March 10, 2012
- Winter Weather in Massachusetts, March 10, 2012
- Strong Wind in Wisconsin, March 10, 2012
- Hail in Texas, March 10, 2012
- Heavy Snow in Washington, March 10 to 11, 2012
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, March 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: 360564.