Baranof Island got a rapid snowstorm on March 18th due to heavy snow showers moving over the area. Water amount was around 2/3 of an inch, but the temperature regime was rather cold with a high around 33F.
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.
Baranof Island got a rapid snowstorm on March 18th due to heavy snow showers moving over the area. Water amount was around 2/3 of an inch, but the temperature regime was rather cold with a high around 33F.
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 Mar 18, 5:13 AM AKST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
613 AM AKDT SUN MAR 18 2012
.SHORT TERM...A NEGATIVLY TILTED UPPER LEVEL TROUGH EXTENDING
FROM KODIAK TO VANCOUVER ISLAND WILL WEAKEN TODAY AND MOVE EAST
ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. STILL HAVE SEVERAL SMALL LOWS UNDER THIS
TROUGH. THE FIRST LOW IS JUST NORTHWEST OF SITKA AND FORECAST TO
MOVE NW AND WEAKEN TONIGHT. A SECOND LOW OVER THE WESTERN COAST
OF POW ISLAND IS DISSIPATING THIS MORNING. A FLAT UPPER RIDGE
BUILDS ACROSS SOUTHERN GULF TONIGHT.
RADAR SHOWING AREAS OF SHOWERS OVER BARANOF ISLAND ALTHOUGH
SITKA AIRPORT IS IN LEE AND HAS BEEN MAINLY DRY OVERNIGHT.
SHOWERS ACROSS THE COASTAL WATERS ARE SCATTERED BUT ARE MOVING
ONSHORE. SATELLITE SHOWS AN ENHANCED AREA OF CONVECTION OVER
WESTERN POW ISLAND THAT COULD PRODUCE AN INCH OR TWO OF SNOW FOR
KLAWOCK. ANOTHER BAND OF SHOWERS IS MOVING ACROSS THE NORTHERN
PANHANDLE THIS MORNING WITH A BURST OF MODERATE SNOW FOR PAHN.
EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS TO CONTINUE AND COULD IX WITH RAIN IN
THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING BUT FOR MOST PART AMOUNTS WILL BE
LIGHT. BETWEEN SHOWERS COULD SEE BREAKS IN CLOUD COVER BUT
OVERALL SKIES CONDITION REMAINS MOSTLY CLOUDY UNTIL UPPER TROUGH
PUSHES THROUGH TONIGHT AND SKIES START TO GO PARTLY CLOUDY.
OVERALL PRESSURE GRADIENT IS WEAK THROUGH THE INNER CHANNELS
WITH JUST A FEW GUSTS NEAR STRONGER SHOWERS. AROUND THE LOW IN
THE COASTAL WATERS AND CROSS SOUND WILL SEE 20-25 KT THAT GIVES
WAY TO GENERAL 15 KT WESTERLY ACROSS THE GULF.
HAD GOOD MODEL AGREEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT TERM. USED THE
NAM12 FOR PRES AND WINDS.
.LONG TERM...THE MODELS ARE IN FAIR AGREEMENT THROUGH THE WEEK A
MEAN LONG WAVE TROF REMAINING OVER THE GULF. THERE IS SOME
DIFFERENCES IN HOW THE HIGH AMPLITUDE UPPER RIDGE OVER THE BERING
EXTENDING FROM THE NORTH PACIFIC BREAKS DOWN AND MOVES INTO THE
GULF. THE WEATHER WILL BE ON THE QUITE SIDE WITH THE JET OVER THE
NORTH PACIFIC SO JUST A CHANGE OF PRECIP WILL BE DOMINATE OVER THE
FORECAST AREA FROM MID WEEK INTO NEXT WEEKEND. SO WITH THAT SAID
THERE IS ABOUT AVERAGE FORECASTER CONFIDENCE FROM WED THROUGH NEXT
WEEKEND AND DID NOT CHANGE THAT PORTION OF THE FORECAST AS HPC
GUIDANCE WAS IN THERE AND LOOKED GOOD.
AT THE START OF THE LONG RANGE PERIOD THE MODEL CONSENSUS HAS
IMPROVED BUT NOT GREAT WITH A DEVELOPING LOW LIFTING OUT OF THE NORTH
PACIFIC ALONG THE BAROCLINIC ZONE. THIS LOW WILL DEEPEN INTO THE
MID 960'S AS IT APPROACHING HAIDA GWAII BUT WILL SIGNIFICANT
WEAKEN AS IT LIFTS OVER THE FAR SOUTHERN AREAS OF SE AK. THE LOW WILL
DRIFT OVER HAIDA GWAII TUE BEFORE IT FALLS APART OVER THE SOUTHERN
PANHANDLE TUE NIGHT/WED MORNING. A RESIDUAL LOW WILL FORM OVER THE GULF
WED NIGHT AS THE UPPER LEVEL LOW DEVELOPS OVER THE GULF.
THERE WILL SOME LINGERING ISOLATED SHOWERS OVER THE FORECAST AREA
MONDAY AS WEAKEN UPPER LEVEL TROF MOVES OVER SE AK. A PROGRESSIVE
UPPER RIDGE AHEAD OVER THE APPROACHING LOW WILL CAP THE SHOWERS. WITH
INCREASING OFFSHORE FLOW CLOUDS WILL DECREASE THROUGH MON OVER THE
NORTHERN AREAS WITH INCREASING CLOUDS OVER THE SOUTHERN AREAS. THE
WINDS OVER THE INNER CHANNELS AND OVER THE FAR SE GULF WILL BEGIN
TO INCREASE AS THE DEVELOPING LOW LIFTS NE. FOR THE MOST PART THE
WINDS WILL INCREASE FROM THE NORTH THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT AND BE
SMALL CRAFT TO GALES BY TUE MORNING. THERE WILL BE SOME AREAS OF
HIGHER GUSTS NEAR INTERIOR PASSES ALONG THE COAST RANGE ALONG WITH
GUSTS WINDS OVER THE FAR NORTHERN AREAS AND NEAR MOUNTAIN GAPS.
THE SOUTHERN AREAS MAY SEE STRONG WINDS GUSTS NEAR EXPOSED AREAS
AS THE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL BE STRONGEST FROM THE EAST. AS THE
LOW WEAKENS TUE NIGHT INTO WED THE WINDS WILL SLOWLY RELAX ALSO.
PRECIP FROM THE LOW WILL BE CONFINED TO THE SOUTHERN HALF AS THE
EASTERLY WINDS THROUGH THE MID-LEVELS WILL KEEP THE NORTHERN AREAS
ON THE DRY SIDE. THE SOUTHERN AREAS WILL SEE THE PRECIP DEVELOP
THROUGH MON NIGHT AND PERSIST INTO WED. THE PRECIP WILL START OUT
AS SNOW WITH COOLER TEMPS ALONG WITH COLD DEW POINTS THAT WILL BE
REINFORCED FROM THE EASTERLY WINDS. THE SNOW WILL BEGIN TO MIX
WITH RAIN THROUGH TUE AFTERNOON AND AS THE WARM CORE LIFTS OVER
THE AREA TUE EVENING IT SHOULD TURN TO ALL RAIN BUT THERE MAYBE
SOME POCKETS OF SNOW OVER THE SOUTH CENTRAL AREAS. AMOUNTS WILL BE
TRICKY BUT ATTM THE THINKING IS THAT THE SOUTHERN ZONES WILL SEE
AMOUNTS RANGING FROM 1 TO 4 INCHES.
THERE IS ABOUT AVERAGE FORECASTER CONFIDENCE WITH THIS SYSTEM AND
USED A BLEND OF THE EC/UKMET FOR THE FORECAST FROM MON THROUGH
WED.
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...NONE.
MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ043.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY DUE TO SEAS FOR PKZ041-042-051.
&&
MM/ABJ1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Bands of snow showers moved rapidly over Baranof Island on the morning into the early afternoon on March 18th. The Sitka fire station got 8.0 inches of new snow in 4.5 hours starting around 0930.
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, March 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: 368608.