A 968 Mb low pressure center in the northern Gulf of Alaska moved northward on the 15th of February. The associated weather front moved across the eastern Interior on the night of the 15th through the 16th.
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 968 Mb low pressure center in the northern Gulf of Alaska moved northward on the 15th of February. The associated weather front moved across the eastern Interior on the night of the 15th through the 16th. The resulting strong Chinook flow over the Alaska Range produced high winds in Alaska Range passes.
Zone 225: There was a peak wind gust to 61 kt (70 mph) at Antler Creek DOT site at MP 244 along the Parks Highway.
Zone 226: The strongest wind at the Texas Condo US Army Mesonet site gusted to 61 kts (70 mph).
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 Feb 15, 2:01 PM AKST, 11 hours 19 minutes earlier.
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 201 PM AKST SUN FEB 15 2015 .DISCUSSION... MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT TERM AND DEPICT EXPECTED AMOUNTS OF SPREAD IN THE MID AND EXTENDED TERMS WITH THE TYPICAL OFF HOUR FLIP FLOPS AS COMPARED TO ON HOUR RUNS. RELIED ON A BLEND OF THE 12Z GFS AND 12Z ECMWF COMBINED WITH INHERITED FORECAST FOR THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. ALOFT AT 500 HPA... THE UPPER LEVEL LOW JUST OFF OF THE NORTHWEST COAST CONTINUES TO BE PUSHED TO THE NORTH AND WEST AS A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE CENTERED OVER THE ALASKA PANHANDLE CONTINUES TO PUSH NORTH AND WEST AS IT ORIENTS ITSELF TO A NORTH SOUTH AXIS CENTERED OVER THE ALCAN BORDER. A 514 DAM LOW CURRENTLY 250 NM SOUTH OF COLD BAY CONTINUES TO MOVE TO THE NORTH TO BE LOCATED OVER THE ALASKA PENINSULA MONDAY AFTERNOON AND NEAR NUNIVAK ISLAND TUESDAY MORNING. STRONG SHORT WAVES ROTATING AROUND THE LOW WILL MOVE UP AND ALONG THE BACK SIDE OF THE RIDGE INTO THE INTERIOR THROUGH TUESDAY. THE FIRST CROSSES THE ALASKA RANGE MONDAY AFTERNOON AND THE SECOND AND STRONGER SHORT WAVE MOVES OVER THE ALASKA RANGE LATE TUESDAY MORNING. WINDS WITH THE UPPER LEVEL WAVES WILL INCREASE WITH FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR MOUNTAIN WAVE SETTING UP OVER THE ALASKA RANGE LATE TONIGHT IN ZONE 227 AND MONDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING IN ZONES 225 AND 226. 55 TO 65 KTS AT MOUNTAIN TOP LEVEL COMBINED WITH STRONG DOWNWARD MOMENTUM AND GOOD CRITICAL LEVEL WILL PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO AROUND 70 MPH ALONG THE NORTH FACING SLOPES OF THE ALASKA RANGE WITH MAX ADVISORY LEVEL WINDS EXPECTED NEAR DELTA JUNCTION. STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHWARD INTO THE INTERIOR AND WILL IMPACT MOST OF THE SUMMITS ACROSS THE INTERIOR MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. EXPECT WIND GUSTS TO AROUND 45 MPH WITH REDUCED VISIBILITY IN BLOWING SNOW OVER SUMMIT AREAS. ON THE SURFACE A 970 MB LOW CURRENTLY LOCATED 250 NM SOUTH OF COLD BAY WILL STRENGTHEN SLIGHTLY TO 968 MB CONTINUE TO MOVE TO THE NORTH AND NORTHWEST TO BE LOCATED 100 NM SOUTH OF COLD BAY MONDAY MORNING AND JUST NORTH OF COLD BAY MONDAY AFTERNOON. AN OCCLUDED FRONT EXTENDING TO THE NORTH AND NORTH EAST OF THE LOW WILL BRING A MIX OF PRECIPITATION TO SOUTHWEST ALASKA BEGINNING MONDAY MORNING IN THE LOWER YK DELTA AND BEGINNING MONDAY EVENING IN ALONG THE SEWARD PENINSULA. PRECIPITATION CONTINUES TO MOVE NORTH TO ENCOMPASS ALL OF THE WEST COAST ZONES BY TUESDAY MORNING. 850 MB TEMPERATURES RISE FROM AROUND 6 BELOW THIS EVENING IN THE LOWER YK DELTA TO 3 BELOW MONDAY MORNING AND CONTINUE TO RISE TO JUST BELOW ZERO MONDAY EVENING ON THE GFS. BOTH THE ECMWF AND NAM PRESENT SOLUTIONS WITH A COOLER COLUMN WITH 850 MB TEMPERATURES AROUND 2 BELOW AND WOULD LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF FREEZING RAIN IN THE LOWER YK DELTA. TOOK MIDDLE OF THE ROAD APPROACH WITH 850 MB TEMPS AROUND 1 BELOW AND LIMITED AMOUNTS OF FREEZING RAIN IN THE LOWER YK DELTA...HOWEVER WILL NEED TO MONITOR THIS AREA CLOSELY FOR POSSIBLE HEADLINES. GENERALLY 2 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED ALONG THE WEST COAST WITH 4 TO 6 POSSIBLE IN THE NULATO HILLS. WINDS WILL GENERALLY BE IN THE 15 TO 25 MPH RANGE AT LOWER ELEVATIONS BUT NEAR FREEZING TEMPERATURES SHOULD LIMIT BLOWING SNOW POTENTIAL. ON THE NORTH SLOPE LOW WIND CHILLS CONTINE OVER THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE NORTH SLOPE. RISING TEMPERATURES TOMORROW WILL MODERATE THE LOW WIND CHILLS DESPITE AN INCREASE IN WINDS. GRADIENT TIGHTENS CONSIDERABLY OVER THE EASTER NORTH SLOPE WHERE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES FOR BLOWING SNOW HAVE BEEN ISSUED BEGINNING TOMORROW EVENING. SUBSEQUENT MODEL RUNS CONTINUE TO BRING IN STRONGER AND STRONGER WINDS IN THIS AREA...WILL NEED TO MONITOR FOR POSSIBLE HEADLINE UPDATES. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ201-AKZ202-AKZ203. HIGH WIND WARNING FOR AKZ225-AKZ226-AKZ227. WIND ADVISORY FOR AKZ223. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ204-AKZ206-AKZ219-AKZ220-AKZ221- AKZ222-AKZ224. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ230-PKZ235-PKZ240- PKZ245. && CCC FEB 15
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Peak wind gust 61 kt (70 mph) at Texas Condo Mesonet.
Peak wind gust to 61 kt (70 mph) at Antler Creek DOT site at MP 244 along the Parks Highway.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 2015
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: 555929, 555930.