A significant amount of snowmelt runoff combined with ice jams caused the Colville River to go overbank on the morning of the 5th at Colville Village, where an NWS Cooperative Weather Observer resides. This event created the highest water levels there since the spring of 2000, and the second highest since official observations from a staff gauge began in 1986.
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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 AFG wrote it up.
A significant amount of snowmelt runoff combined with ice jams caused the Colville River to go overbank on the morning of the 5th at Colville Village, where an NWS Cooperative Weather Observer resides. This event created the highest water levels there since the spring of 2000, and the second highest since official observations from a staff gauge began in 1986. The airstrip was underwater and several inches of water was present in all the lower elevation structures. The main lodge which was a little bit elevated was surrounded by water.
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 Jun 5, 2:31 AM AKST, 4 hours 29 minutes earlier.
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 331 AM AKDT WED JUN 5 2013 .DISCUSSION... MODELS...MODELS GOOD IN SHORT TERM BUT ARE GOING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS IN THE MIDTERM AND BEYOND. THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE IS IN THE HANDLING OF A CLOSED LOW THAT DEVELOPS OVER SIBERIA TODAY AND THEN WORKS EAST OVER THE ARCTIC COAST. ALOFT...AT 500 HPA...BROAD TROUGH OVER THE STATE. 541 DAM LOW OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL CONTINUE TO FILL AND BE ABSORBED BY THE TROUGH OVER THE ARCTIC. GOOD MOISTURE ADVECTION CONTINUE AS THE LOW MOVES OVERLAND. 551 DAM RIDGE WILL DEVELOP IN THE LEE OF THE LOW TODAY OVER THE AREA SOUTH OF THE BROOKS RANGE. 534 DAM CLOSED LOW DEVELOPS OVER SIBERIA THIS AFTERNOON. MODELS DIFFER ON THE HANDLING OF THE LOW AND ASSOCIATED COLD AIR. WILL GO WITH THE GFS SOLUTION AND MOVE THE LOW EAST TO AROUND BARROW BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON THEN NORTH. SURFACE...BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE HANGING IN OVER THE INTERIOR THROUGH THURSDAY...SO CONTINUE A CLOUDY SHOWERY REGIME OVER THE AREA THROUGH THURSDAY. LESS CLOUDY ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WITH AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOWERS FRIDAY...A LITTLE LESS ACTIVITY ON SATURDAY. RIDGE BUILDS IN FROM THE WEST BUT THERMAL TROUGH STRENGTHENS OVER THE INTERIOR. LOW OVER CHUKOTKA FILLS AND ENERGY MOVES EAST TO THE WEST AND NORTHWEST COAST ON FRIDAY...THEN MOVES ACROSS THE ARCTIC AND WESTERN INTERIOR THROUGH THE WEEKEND. WITH WEST TO SOUTHWEST FLOW ACROSS THE WEST COAST STARTING SATURDAY EXPECT MODERATE RAINFALL AS FAR EAST AS TANANA BY MONDAY...BEYOND THAT HARD TO DETERMINE EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS...BUT A CLOUDY AND SHOWERY REGIME IN THE INTERIOR IS MOST LIKELY FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. TODAY WILL BE THE COLDEST DAY WITH TEMPERATURES RISING SLOWLY THROUGH SATURDAY. ARCTIC COAST...TEMPERATURES ON THE RISE AFTER TODAY BUT THE WESTERN AREAS WILL REMAIN BELOW NORMAL WHILE THE EASTERN AREAS RETURN TO NEAR NORMAL FOR JUNE. MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE WEST WITH SNOW ENDING IN THE EASTERN AREAS TONIGHT...SO EXPECT UP TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW THERE BEFORE IT ENDS. WINDS GENERALLY LIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. WEST COAST...PRETTY QUIET THROUGH FRIDAY...THEN SOME RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS IN THE COASTAL AREAS SATURDAY. WINDS GENERALLY LIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY WITH SOME STRONG GUSTY WINDS FROM THE BERING STRAIT NORTH ON SATURDAY. TEMPERATURES STEADY THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING ALONG THE COAST...THEN COOLER TEMPERATURES FROM NORTON SOUND NORTH FOR THE WEEKEND. INTERIOR...CLOUDY...SHOWERY WILL RULE AGAIN TODAY IN THE INTERIOR WITH SHOWERS BECOMING MORE SCATTERED OVERNIGHT. SOME ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE ALONG THE ALCAN IN ZONES 220 AND 224. PATCHY MORNING FOG IN THE VALLEYS AND OVER THE FLATS TODAY AND TOMORROW. GENERALLY LIGHT WINDS IN THE VALLEYS WITH SOME GUSTY WINDS TO 25 MPH OVER THE HILLTOPS TODAY. TEMPERATURES WILL START WARMING TONIGHT THROUGH THE WEEKEND. COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE FIRE WEATHER...NONE...SOME DRYING AFTER TODAY...BUT RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL REMAIN ABOVE 30 PERCENT FOR THE MOST PART THROUGH THE WEEKEND. HYDROLOGY...FLOODING CONTINUES ON THE LOWER YUKON THIS MORNING AROUND EMMONAK...HIGH WATER CONTINUES ON THE YUKON FROM THE PORCUPINE RIVER TO STEVENS VILLAGE. HIGH WATER IS ALSO OCCURRING ON THE COLVILLE RIVER ON THE ARCTIC COAST. THE RAINFALL IN THE INTERIOR AND CONTINUED SNOW MELT IN THE BROOKS RANGE WILL KEEP RIVER LEVELS HIGH IN THESE AREAS AND MAY LEAD TO MINOR FLOODING ISSUES. GO TO APRFC.ARH.NOAA.GOV FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON RIVERS IN ALASKA. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SDB JUN 13
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, June 2013
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: 461506.