Heavy Snow in Alaska, May 3 to 5, 2013

Name: Heavy Snow in Alaska, May 3 to 5, 2013
Start: 2013-05-03T03:00
End: 2013-05-05T12:00
Location: Alaska

May 3 to 5, 2013 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A weakening but moist low pressure center moved northeast across the eastern Alaska Range on the 4th and 5th producing heavy snow over the area. The Mentasta Lake/Bartell Creek Cooperative observer measured 29 inches of new snow from the evening of the 2nd through the 4th.

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 weakening but moist low pressure center moved northeast across the eastern Alaska Range on the 4th and 5th producing heavy snow over the area.

The Mentasta Lake/Bartell Creek Cooperative observer measured 29 inches of new snow from the evening of the 2nd through the 4th. A similar amount was estimated to have fallen at Nabesna by a citizen, and also at Mentasta Pass by the State of Alaska DOT.

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 May 2, 9:21 AM AKST, 17 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 2, 9:21 AM AKST, 17 hours 39 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
1021 AM AKDT THU MAY 2 2013

.DISCUSSION...
MODEL SOLUTIONS THIS MORNING ARE CONTINUING THE LARGE
SCALE TREND INDICATED BY YESTERDAY MORNINGS RUNS. A SHARP
UPPER TROUGH EXTENDING NORTHEAST-SOUTHWEST ACROSS THE NORTHERN
ALASKA MAINLAND WILL GRADUALLY WEAKEN AND BROADEN OUT THROUGH
SATURDAY...AND TRANSITION TO A LIGHT WESTERLY FLOW PATTERN WITH
BELOW NORMAL HEIGHTS BY SATURDAY. THIS PATTERN WILL LIKELY
CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY...WITH A FEW WEAK SHORT WAVES MOVING
EASTWARD.

A SURFACE TROUGH WILL PERSIST OVER THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR...
WITH LOW PRESSURE MOVING NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE AREA FRIDAY
NIGHT AND SATURDAY. THIS ALONG WITH AN EASTWARD MOVING SHORT
WAVE ALOFT WILL PROVIDE UPPER LIFT FOR THE CONTINUATION OF
PRECIPITATION OF MUCH OF THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN INTERIOR.
PRECIPITATION MAY BE MIXED RAIN/SNOW DURING THE WARMEST PARTS OF
THE AFTERNOON IN THE SOUTHEAST INTERIOR.

TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE NEAR NORMAL IN THE EXTREME
SOUTHEAST INTERIOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...OTHERWISE REMAINING
BELOW NORMAL THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
NONE.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...
SNOWMELT WILL REMAIN MINIMAL THROUGH THE WEEKEND AS BELOW
NORMAL TEMPERATURES CONTINUE OVER

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

MAY 13

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng

When: May 3, 3:00 AM AKST to May 5, 12:00 PM AKST
Where: Ne. Slopes of the Ern Ak Rng forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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, May 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: 455082.