Winter Weather in Alaska, December 8 to 10, 2013

Name: Winter Weather in Alaska, December 8 to 10, 2013
Start: 2013-12-08T15:31
End: 2013-12-10T01:34
Location: Alaska

December 8 to 10, 2013 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

5 to 5 inches of snow, with highest amounts northeast of Fairbanks, where the additional snow loaded power lines already covered with ice caused power outages to about 6000 electric utility members on the 9th into the 10th.

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 weather system moving across the area provided 2.5 to 5 inches of snow, with highest amounts northeast of Fairbanks, where the additional snow loaded power lines already covered with ice caused power outages to about 6000 electric utility members on the 9th into the 10th.

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 Dec 8, 2:49 PM AKST, 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 8, 2:49 PM AKST, 42 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
249 PM AKST SUN DEC 8 2013

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS ARE IN DECENT AGREEMENT THROUGH 60 HOURS. UPPER LOW
APPROACHING WRANGEL ISLAND WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEAST AND
THEN DIVE SOUTH TO NEAR FAIRBANKS BY TUE AFTERNOON. THIS WILL
USHER IN MUCH COLDER AIR TO REPLACE THE MUCH ABOVE NORMAL
TEMPERATURES THAT THE ENTIRE STATE HAS BEEN EXPERIENCING FOR MORE
THAN A WEEK.

AS UPPER LEVEL LOW PUSHES SOUTH OVER THE INTERIOR...MODELS
ADVERTISE THAT THERE WILL SOME SNOWFALL THAT WILL ACCOMPANY THE
ARCTIC FRONT AS IT DROPS SOUTHWARD WHICH IS LIKELY...SOMEWHERE
AROUND 1 TO 2 INCHES IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN
INTERIOR...POSSIBLY A LITTLE MORE IN THE EASTERN ALASKA RANGE WITH
THE UPSLOPE ENHANCED PRECIPITATION ON TUE AND TUE NIGHT. SEVERAL
AREAS IN THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN INTERIOR WITH DENSE FOG.

ALONG WITH THE MOVEMENT OF THE ARCTIC FRONT...NORTHERLY WINDS WILL
INCREASE THROUGH THE BROOKS RANGE PASSES MON NIGHT AND THEN
THROUGH THE ALASKA RANGE PASSES TUE AND TUE NIGHT.

WEST COAST WILL BE FAIRLY UNEVENTFUL FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. FOG
ALONG THE WEST COAST WILL BE THE MAJOR IMPACT.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR AKZ204.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ240.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ245.
&&

CF DEC 13

Event by event

1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Middle Tanana Valley

When: December 8, 3:31 PM AKST to December 10, 1:34 AM AKST
Where: Middle Tanana Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

What these are

Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2013 Every state in 2013 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, December 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: 491094.