Name: Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 2 to 5, 2012
Start: 2012-03-02T23:00
End: 2012-03-05T08:00
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.

Zone 203: At Nuiqsut, temperatures of 31 to 36 below combined with a southwest wind of 15 mph to produce wind chills as low as 66 below. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 0600AKST on the 4th through 0030AKST on the 5th. At Kuparuk, temperatures of 29 to 36 below combined with a southwest wind of 15 mph to produce wind chills as low as 66 below. The wind chills were 60 below or lower from approximately 1730AKST on the 3rd through 0800AKST on the 5th. No observations are taken a Kuparuk during the evening and overnight, so it was estimated that the low wind chills persisted during this time. At Deadhorse, the wind chills intermittently were 60 to 65 below from approximately 0100AKST through 0400AKST on the 4th, and again from approximately 0400AKST through 0800AKST on the 5th. At Alpine Airport, the wind chills were intermittently 60 to 66 below from 0445AKST on the 4th through 0400AKST on the 5th.

Zone 204: At Barter Island, temperatures of 30 to 32 below zero combined a west wind of 15 to 17 mph to produce wind chills of 60 to 62 below zero from 2300AKST on the 2nd through 0600AKST on the 3rd.

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 2, 2:04 PM AKST, 8 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 2, 2:04 PM AKST, 8 hours 56 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
204 PM AKST FRI MAR 2 2012

.DISCUSSION...
THE MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON LARGE SCALE FEATURES THROUGH
SUNDAY. ALOFT...WE CONTINUE WITH A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE
OVER THE CWA. THE STORM TRACK STAYS SOUTH OF MAINLAND ALASKA
THROUGH SUNDAY. RIDGING MOVES INTO WESTERN ALASKA SUNDAY NIGHT.
AT THE SURFACE...A 1038 MB HIGH NORTHWEST OF WRANGEL ISLAND WILL
DRIFT WEST AND PERSIST THROUGH SUNDAY. A 992 MB LOW IN THE NORTHERN
GULF OF ALASKA WILL PERSIST AND WEAKEN SLOWLY THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING.
AN OCCLUSION WILL DRIFT NWD ACROSS THE ALASKA RANGE TONIGHT.

IN THE MEDIUM RANGE...AN UPPER TROUGH IS EXPECTED TO DIG INTO
NORTHERN AK AT THE START OF THE MEDIUM RANGE KEEPING A COLDER THAN
NORMAL AIR MASS FOR EARLY MARCH ACROSS ALL OF THE CWA. THERE IS A
FAIR AMOUNT OF MODEL SPREAD AND THE DETAILS VARY...BUT ALL OF THE
GUIDANCE POINTS TOWARDS A COLD PATTERN CONTINUING THROUGH ALL OF
NEXT WEEK WITH LIKELY SOME LOCAL WIND CHILL CONCERNS PERSISTING.
TEMPS WILL BE IMPACTED BY CLOUD COVER WITH LARGE DIURNAL SWINGS
IN AREAS SOUTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE THAT REMAIN CLEAR. THE PATTERN
ALSO LOOKS TO BE MAINLY DRY ALTHOUGH A BERING SEA OCCLUSION MAY
BRING A PERIOD OF SNOW TO ST LAWRENCE ISLAND AND THE T-K DELTA
AREAS AT THE START OF THE MEDIUM RANGE ON MONDAY. LONG RANGE
INDICATIONS POINT TOWARD SOME FORM OF TROUGHING PERSISTING ACROSS
THE MAINLAND THROUGH MID-MONTH.

NORTH SLOPE...THE COLD AIRMASS WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
WINDS OVR WRN ZONE 201 WILL DIMINISH SOME TONIGHT AND THE WIND
CHILL WARNING THERE HAS BEEN CANCELLED. STRATUS AND DIURNAL ICE
FOG NEAR URBAN AREAS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY.

WEST COAST...LOCALLY BRISK WINDS CONTINUE...THOUGH SOME RELAXATION
OF THE PRES GRADIENT LIKELY TONIGHT MOST AREAS. TEMPS REMAINING
WELL BELOW NORMAL WITH NO SGFNT PCPN.

INTERIOR...A LITTLE MORE MODERATION IN THE AIRMASS OVER SRN ZONES
THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT AS THE REMAINS OF AN OCCLUSION DRIFTS
NORTH. EXPECT A PERIOD OF LIGHT SNOW ON FRI NIGHT INTO SAT FROM
THE MCGRATH AREA NEWD INTO THE YUKON-TANANA UPLANDS. PRECIP
AMOUNTS THOUGH SHOULD BE VERY LIGHT. COLDER AIR WILL MOVE BACK
INTO SRN ZONES THE FIRST OF THE WEEK.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ207-AKZ213.

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

RL MAR 12

Event by event

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

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast

When: March 2, 11:00 PM AKST to March 3, 6:00 AM AKST
Where: Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Central Beaufort Sea Coast

When: March 3, 5:30 PM AKST to March 5, 8:00 AM AKST
Where: Central Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

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: 359197, 360565.