Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 15 to 16, 2012
Start: 2012-03-15T14:30
End: 2012-03-16T11:00
Location: Alaska

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 31 to 33 below zero combined with a northeast wind of 15 to 25 mph to produce wind chills as low as 66 below zero at Anaktuvuk Pass. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 1430AKST on the 15th through 1100AKST on the 16th.

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 15, 2:23 PM AKST, 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 15, 2:23 PM AKST, 7 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
323 PM AKDT THU MAR 15 2012

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS IN DECENT AGREEMENT THROUGH 60 HOURS. LONG WAVE TROUGH
PATTERN FIRMLY PLANTED OVER NORTHERN ALASKA WILL PERSIST THROUGH
THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. ALTHOUGH A RIDGE DEVELOPS IN THE BERING SEA
THEN MOVES EASTWARD BUTS GETS SQUASHED DOWN AS IT NEARS WESTERN
ALASKA ON NEXT WED. ALTHOUGH 500 HEIGHTS BEGIN TO RISE A
BIT...LOWER LEVEL COLD AIR WILL CONTINUE TO BE TRAPPED IN THE
LOWER ATMOSPHERE.

RMOPS INDICATE A LONG WAVE TROUGH PATTERN OVER NORTHERN ALASKA
THROUGH THE END OF MARCH...WHICH DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR AN EARLY
SPRING. HOWEVER...THE LONGER THAT WE CAN SUSTAIN TEMPERATURES THAT
ARE NOT EXTREMELY WARM...THE BETTER THE CHANCE THE BREAK-UP MAY BE
EASIER.

WITH THE HIGH BUILDING IN OVER THE ARCTIC COAST AND THE DOMINANT
LOW PRESSURE IN THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL CONTINUE THE ELEVATED WIND
SPEEDS OVER THE WEST COAST AND THE WESTERN ARCTIC COAST.

PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS AND OCCURRENCES SHOULD BE VERY LIGHT IF ANY
AT ALL OVER MOST OF NORTHERN ALASKA THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THE ONLY
THING THAT MAY INSPIRE SOME FLURRIES IS THE UPPER LEVEL LOW THAT
WILL PUSH DOWN FROM THE NORTHEAST TO RESONATE SOMEWHERE NEAR ZONE
219 FOR MOST OF THE WEEKEND.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ201-AKZ205-AKZ206-AKZ207.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ225.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220.
&&

CF MAR 12

Event by event

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

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R

When: March 15, 2:30 PM AKST to March 16, 11:00 AM AKST
Where: N. Brooks Rng E of Colville R 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: 360990.