Name: Ice Storm and Heavy Snow in Alaska, November 8 to 10, 2012
Start: 2012-11-08T22:00
End: 2012-11-10T15:00
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.

A warm front associated with a 986 mb low pressure system in Bristol Bay brought abundant moisture and warming to the Yukon Delta on November 9th. Warm air overriding cold air at the surface produced freezing rain over the Yukon Delta and heavy snow over the Lower Yukon Valley. At Marshall in the Yukon Delta, up to 0.13 inch of rain fell on the 9th while Scammon Bay and Mountain Village had mush less rain. At the village of Nulato, 24 inches of snow was reported within 24 hours and a similar amount likely occurred over higher elevations. Other villages in zone 216 received only several inches of snow.

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 Nov 8, 3:54 PM AKST, 6 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 8, 3:54 PM AKST, 6 hours 6 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
354 PM AKST THU NOV 8 2012

.DISCUSSION...
THE 986 MB LOW SOUTH OF DUTCH HARBOR WILL MOVE RATHER SLOWLY
NORTHEAST TO BE NEAR COLD BAY AT 3AM SATURDAY...SPREADING A
STREAM OF MOISTURE NORTH AND EAST OVER MAINLAND ALASKA. WE EXPECT
CONSIDERABLE FREEZING RAIN FROM ZONE 212 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST
THROUGH ZONES 214...215...227...AND THE CORNER OF ZONE 216 BETWEEN
ZONES 216 AND 227. SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION WILL TAPER OFF (BECOME
SHOWERY) FROM THE NORTHWEST SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT...BUT
THE AIRMASS WILL REMAIN (BARELY) WARM ENOUGH TO SUPPORT FREEZING
PRECIPITATION.

THE FRONTAL STRUCTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW WILL BECOME
INCREASINGLY POORLY DEFINED BUT WE EXPECT THE WARM FRONT TO MOVE
NORTH AND EAST TO LIE FROM ABOUT BETHEL TO SPARREVOHN TO KODIAK AT
3AM FRIDAY...THEN MOVE ALOFT OVER MAINLAND ALASKA TO BE DIFFUSE
FROM ABOUT NOME TO FAIRBANKS TO NORTHWAY AT 3AM SATURDAY. THE COLD
FRONT LIES SOUTH- SOUTHEAST OF THE LOW AT THIS TIME AND WILL MOVE
THROUGH COLD BAY LATE TONIGHT AND BE DIFFUSE FROM ABOUT BETHEL TO
KODIAK SATURDAY MORNING.

EXCEPT FOR SOME WIND...NO DRAMATIC IMPACTS FROM THIS THING NORTH
OF ZONE 210 ON THE WEST COAST...NOR NORTH OR EAST OF ZONE 216 IN
THE INTERIOR...THOUGH THERE IS AT LEAST A CHANCE OF SNOW SPREADING
OVER MOST OF THE INTERIOR ALONG WITH WARMER TEMPERATURES.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND
4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER STORM WATCH FOR AKZ210-AKZ211-AKZ212-AKZ213-AKZ214-AKZ215-
AKZ216-AKZ227.

HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ230-PKZ240-
PKZ245.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200.
&&

DJH NOV 12

Event by event

1 heavy snow, 1 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys

When: November 8, 10:00 PM AKST to November 10, 3:00 PM AKST
Where: Lower Koyukuk Middle Ykn Vlys forecast zone
Reported by: Public

The city of Nulato reported over 2 feet of snow on the 9th of November.

Ice Storm, Yukon Delta

When: November 9, 4:00 AM AKST to November 10, 6:00 AM AKST
Where: Yukon Delta forecast zone
Reported by: Public

Over one tenth of ice accumulated in the village of Marshall on the 9th of November.

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
Ice Storm: Freezing rain accumulating a quarter inch or more of ice, or less where it caused significant damage.

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, November 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: 421765, 421767.