Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 14 to 16, 2012
Start: 2012-03-14T00:56
End: 2012-03-16T06:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 Point Lay, temperatures of 31 to 36 below zero combined with a northeast wind of 15 to 20 mph to produce wind chills of 60 to 70 below zero from approximately 0056AKST through 1240AKST on the 14th. A second period of low wind chills was observed from approximately 1811AKST on the 14th through 0600AKST on the 16th. Temperatures of 29 to 36 below zero combined with a northeast wind of 15 to 23 mph to produce wind chills of 60 to 68 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 Mar 13, 2:32 PM AKST, 10 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 13, 2:32 PM AKST, 10 hours 24 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
332 PM AKDT TUE MAR 13 2012

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS SIMILAR THROUGH 60 HOURS. LONG WAVE TROUGH WILL PERSIST
OVER MAINLAND ALASKA. HIGH PRESSURE OVER FAR EASTERN RUSSIA WILL
PERSIST BUT SLOWLY PUSH EASTWARD. LOW PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO
PERSIST IN THE GULF OF ALASKA.

LOW PRESSURE IN THE GULF OF ALASKA COMBINED WITH HIGH PRESSURE IN
THE HIGH ARCTIC IS CREATING A DECENT PRESSURE GRADIENT ALONG THE
EASTERN ARCTIC COAST AND THE WEST COAST. THIS IS BRINGING UP THE
WINDS NOT ONLY ALONG THE COAST BUT IN THE INTERIOR UPLANDS AS WELL.

WITH COLD AIR FIRMLY IN PLACE OVER NORTHWEST ALASKA AND THE GRADIENT
TIGHTENING...WIND CHILL ADVISORIES FOR NORTHWEST ALASKA ARE
PROBABLE. NORTHERN ALASKA WILL BE FAIRLY PRECIPITATION FREE FOR
THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FEW SCATTERED SNOW
SHOWERS IN THE WESTERN PORTION.

LONGER RANGE SHOWS A CONTINUED TROUGH ALOFT OVER NORTHERN ALASKA
THROUGH 240 HOURS IN SOME SORT OF FASHION OR ANOTHER WITH LITTLE
TO NO REPRIEVE FROM THE COLDER AIR. THERE MAYBE A SLIGHT WARM UP
OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS BUT IT THE TEMPERATURES WILL SAG ONCE
AGAIN.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GALE WARNING FOR PKZ225.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230.
&&

CF/DJH MAR 12

Event by event

2 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Western Arctic Coast

When: March 14, 12:56 AM AKST to 12:40 PM AKST
Where: Western Arctic Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Western Arctic Coast

When: March 14, 6:11 PM AKST to March 16, 6:00 AM AKST
Where: Western Arctic Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

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

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2012 Every state in 2012 This day in weather history Warnings 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: 360955, 360956.