Name: Blizzard in Alaska, April 9 to 10, 2013
Start: 2013-04-09T14:33
End: 2013-04-10T01:53
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.

A high pressure center over the western Chukchi Sea and low pressure over the northwest interior of Alaska created an area of strong winds over the northern Chukchi Sea coast. Blizzard conditions were likely on the 9th through the early morning hours of the 10th at Kivalina where the ASOS indicated the visibility was one-quarter mile or less and the wind gusted between 40 and 50 mph.

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 Apr 9, 9:20 AM AKST, 5 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 9, 9:20 AM AKST, 5 hours 13 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
1020 AM AKDT TUE APR 9 2013

.DISCUSSION...
AN UNSEASONABLY VERY COLD AND DEEP UPPER LOW CENTER CONTINUES
TO BE THE CONTROLLING FEATURE FOR WEATHER OVER THE NORTHERN
ALASKA. THE LOW CENTER IS CURRENTLY OVER THE UPPER KUSKOKWIM
VALLEY. CURRENT MODEL SOLUTIONS CALL FOR THE UPPER LOW TO MOVE
EASTWARD AND SPLIT INTO TWO CENTERS BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON...THE
NORTHERN CENTER JUST SOUTH OF THE NICHOLSON PENINSULA IN CANADA
AND THE SOUTHWESTERN CENTER NEAR PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND. BY
THURSDAY AFTERNOON THE NORTHERN CENTER WILL BE NEAR BANKS ISLAND
AND THE SOUTHERN CENTER WILL MOVE TO THE ALASKA PANHANDLE. CURRENT
GFS/ECMWF MODEL RUNS INDICATE ANOTHER UPPER LOW CENTER MOVING
SOUTHEASTWARD OUT OF THE ARCTIC...ARRIVING ON THE NORTHWEST ALASKA
COAST BY SATURDAY MORNING AND DIVING INTO THE EASTERN INTERIOR BY
SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL PROLONG THE DURATION OF THE
UNSEASONABLY VERY COLD AIRMASS OVER THE FORECAST AREA.

A 975 MB LOW CENTERED OVER THE EXTREME SOUTHEAST INTERIOR NEAR
THE ALCAN BORDER IS PROGGED TO MOVE TO NEAR MAYO THIS EVENING
FILLING TO AROUND 978 MB...WHILE A SECONDARY 983 MB CENTER
DEVELOPS SOUTHWEST OF GREAT BEAR LAKE. THIS NEW LOW WILL BECOME
THE SURVIVING CENTER AND MOVE TO NEAR SOUTHERN BANKS ISLAND BY
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AS A 986 MB LOW. STRONG WEST WINDS WILL
DEVELOP OVER THE EASTERN ARCTIC COAST BY NOON WEDNESDAY AS
THE PRESSURE GRADIENT INCREASES ACROSS THE EASTERN ARCTIC
COAST. THE EASTERN ARCTIC COAST WILL EXPERIENCE A LONG PERIOD
OF BLIZZARD CONDITIONS BEGINNING AROUND NOON WEDNESDAY AND
CONTINUING THROUGH FRIDAY.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES FOR SNOW WILL CONTINUE IN MOST EASTERN
INTERIOR ZONES. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF IN ZONE 225 BY THIS
EVENING AND IN ZONE 226 BY AROUND MIDNIGHT. ADVISORIES IN THE
OTHER EASTERN INTERIOR ZONES THROUGH 6 AM WEDNESDAY. BRISK WINDS
WITH LOW WIND CHILL AND POOR VISIBILITY IN BLOWING SNOW IN ZONE
206 PASSES ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT.

IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE LIKELY TO
CONTINUE OVER MOST OF NORTHERN ALASKA INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT
WEEK. THE ECMWF AND GFS ENSEMBLE MEANS SHOW AN ESSENTIALLY SIMILAR
STORY WITH A RIDGE POSITION OVER THE BERING SEA AND A TROUGH AXIS
ALONG OR JUST EAST OF THE ALCAN BORDER...RESULTING IN A NORTH TO
NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER MOST OF THE NORTHERN ALASKA MAINLAND.

THE LATEST NCEP/CPC ENSEMBLE MEAN EXTENDED TEMPERATURE FORECAST
CALLS FOR TEMPERATURES AVERAGING BELOW NORMAL FOR ALMOST ALL OF
THE NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE END OF THE MONTH.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
NONE.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...
NO RIPENING OF THE SNOWPACK OR SOFTENING OF RIVER ICE IS EXPECTED
THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK...MEAN TEMPERATURES IN THE FORECAST AREA
WILL REMAIN WELL BELOW FREEZING...DAYTIME MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES
REACHING FREEZING AT BEST...BUT WILL BE BELOW FREEZING IN MOST
AREAS ON MOST OR ALL DAYS DURING THE NEXT WEEK.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
BLIZZARD WARNING FOR AKZ204.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ206-AKZ218-AKZ219-AKZ220-AKZ221-
AKZ222-AKZ223-AKZ224-AKZ225-AKZ226.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ245.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ245.
&&

RF APR 13

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 9, 12:32 PM AKST, 2 hours 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
132 PM AKDT TUE APR 09 2013

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0600 AM     HEAVY SNOW       7 NW FAIRBANKS          64.91N 147.82W
04/09/2013  M3.8 INCH                           AK   CO-OP OBSERVER

            GOLDSTREAM CREEK COOPERATIVE OBSERVER 24 HOUR REPORT

0700 AM     HEAVY SNOW       EAGLE                   64.78N 141.20W
04/09/2013  M4.0 INCH                           AK   CO-OP OBSERVER

            EAGLE COOPERATIVE OBSERVER 24 HOUR REPORT

0800 AM     HEAVY SNOW       FORT YUKON              66.57N 145.26W
04/09/2013  M3.0 INCH                           AK   CO-OP OBSERVER

            FORT YUKON COOPERATIVE OBSERVER 24 HOUR REPORT

0900 AM     HEAVY SNOW       COLLEGE                 64.87N 147.82W
04/09/2013  M3.0 INCH                           AK   CO-OP OBSERVER

            COLLEGE OBSERVATORY 24 HOUR REPORT

&&

JMALINGO

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Chukchi Sea Coast

When: April 9, 2:33 PM AKST to April 10, 1:53 AM AKST
Where: Chukchi Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2013 Every state in 2013 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, April 2013

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: 446113.