A 1043 MB high cell rebuilt over the Yukon on the morning of Jan 5th. This very persistent feature caused high winds for Skagway, the Klondike Highway, Downtown Juneau and Douglas.
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 AJK wrote it up.
A 1043 MB high cell rebuilt over the Yukon on the morning of Jan 5th. This very persistent feature caused high winds for Skagway, the Klondike Highway, Downtown Juneau and Douglas. No damage was reported. Low wind chills were also observed along the Klondike Highway.
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 Juneau, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 5, 5:48 AM AKST, 1 hour 58 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
548 AM AKST MON JAN 5 2015
.SHORT TERM...ONE MORE SUNNY DAY FOR SOUTHEAST ALASKA. STILL
CONTINUING TO BE LOCALLY WINDY OR VERY WINDY THUS SEVERAL AREAS ARE
BACK INTO OR CONTINUING A STRONG WIND HEADLINE. LYNN CANAL IS
EXPECTED TO BE GALE TO STORM FORCE WITH GALES FOR A PORTION OF
OTHER INNER CHANNELS BLOWING GALES MONDAY AND INTO MONDAY NIGHT.
PANHANDLE MAINLY CLEAR WITH ONLY SOME CIRRUS NEAR DIXON ENTRANCE
EARLY MONDAY. THIS BAND OF CLOUDS WILL BE PUSHED NORTHWARD INTO
THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE PANHANDLE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND TO
THE CENTRAL PANHANDLE MONDAY NIGHT. PRECIPITATION WITH THE FRONTAL
FEATURE WITH THE CLOUDS WILL GET TO ROUGHLY A SITKA-ANGOON LINE
BY LATE MONDAY NIGHT HOWEVER THINK THAT IT WILL BEGIN TO START
FALLING PART LATE TONIGHT.
THINK PRECIPITATION WILL START AS SNOW WHEN IT BEGINS TO SPREAD IN
IN THE AFTERNOON ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ZONES. THE MORE COASTAL PARTS
OF THOSE ZONES I THINK WILL BE TRANSITIONING OVER TO A MIX THEN
RAIN. BELIEVE THE SNOW AMOUNTS WILL BE 1 TO PERHAPS LOCALLY 3
INCHES LATE AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT. AM STILL MONITORING THE
POSSIBILITY THAT THE WARM OVERRUNNING ACROSS THE COLD AIR IN THE
PANHANDLE BY END UP AS LOCAL AREAS OF FREEZING RAIN OR DRIZZLE.
CONFIDENCE IN THE EVENT NOT VERY STRONG.
WITH WINDS AND COLD AIR OVER THE WHITE PASS REGION ENDED UP WITH A
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR THERE THIS MORNING AND THINK IT WILL
REAPPEAR OVERNIGHT AGAIN.
.LONG TERM...UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE WILL BE THE PREDOMINANT LARGE-SCALE
FEATURE LOCATED OVER THE PAC NW INTO INTERIOR AK DURING THE LONG
TERM PERIOD. TROUGHS EMANATING FROM THE NERN PAC AND GULF WILL
ATTEMPT TO BREAK DOWN THE RIDGE...THE FIRST ATTEMPT OCCURRING TUE
NIGHT AND WED AS A WEAK UPPER DISTURBANCE AND MINOR SURFACE
REFLECTION ENTER THE SRN/CNTRL PANHANDLE. THIS DISTURBANCE WILL
QUICKLY BECOME ABSORBED WITHIN THE RIDGE AND DISSIPATE BY WED
NIGHT. HOWEVER...MODEST ASCENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEAK TROUGH
COMBINED WITH PW VALUES RANGING FROM 0.5 TO 1 INCH /UP TO 2
STANDARD DEVIATIONS ABOVE NORMAL/ SPREADING N FROM THE PAC WILL
SUPPORT LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN FOR SRN AREAS...AND ADVISORY TO
POSSIBLE WARNING LEVEL SNOWFALL FOR HYDER TUE AND WED.
MOISTURE WILL ALSO SPREAD INTO CNTRL AND NRN AREAS...BUT WEAKER
ASCENT WILL YIELD LIGHTER QPF AMOUNTS. PRECIPITATION MAY INITIALLY
START OUT AS LIGHT SNOW FOR AREAS AROUND JUNEAU AND GUSTAVUS...BUT
A WARM LAYER OF AIR IN THE 900-850 MB LAYER WILL RESULT IN A
TRANSITION TO LIQUID PRECIPITATION. N-NELY LOW-LEVEL WINDS WILL
KEEP TEMPERATURES HOVERING AOB FREEZING FOR THESE LOCATIONS AS
WARMER AIR MOVES IN ALOFT. THUS...LIGHT FREEZING RAIN/DRIZZLE TUE
NIGHT THROUGH WED NIGHT IS EXPECTED. SURFACE TEMPERATURES THEN
GRADUALLY MODERATE TO ABOVE FREEZING THU AND BEYOND.
MEANWHILE...THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER NWRN
CANADA AND MUCH LOWER PRESSURE OVER THE GULF WILL FAVOR STRONG
OUTFLOW WINDS OVER THE NRN HALF OF THE CWA THROUGH THU NIGHT. GALE
TO POSSIBLE STORM FORCE WINDS ARE LIKELY IN LYNN CANAL...WITH
GALES ALSO OCCURRING FROM CROSS SOUND TO STEPHENS PASSAGE.
FREEZING SPRAY IS PROBABLE FOR THESE LOCATIONS AS WELL DUE TO THE
COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS AND SURFACE TEMPERATURES IN THE TEENS
AND 20S...WITH FREEZING SPRAY POTENTIAL LINGERING LONGEST OVER
NRN LYNN CANAL /THROUGH WED NIGHT/. STRONG WIND GUSTS ARE ALSO
PROBABLE FOR SKAGWAY...AREAS NEAR HAINES ALONG LYNN CANAL...AND
PORTLAND CANAL S OF HYDER. IN ADDITION...WIND GUSTS WILL APPROACH
40 MPH FOR DOWNTOWN JUNEAU AND S DOUGLAS THROUGH THU AFTERNOON.
PRESSURE GRIDS WERE UPDATED BEGINNING 18Z WED USING A BLEND OF THE
ECMWF AND GEM...WITH A TRANSITION BACK TO 12Z WPC BY FRI MORNING
AS MODEL SPREAD INCREASES AT THE SURFACE. A GFS/ECMWF/OFFICIAL
BLEND WAS USED FOR POP AND QPF GRIDS THROUGH THU NIGHT...WITH
INSIGNIFICANT CHANGES MADE THEREAFTER. FORECAST CONFIDENCE IS
STILL HAMPERED BY UNCERTAINTY IN PRECIP TYPE EVOLUTION.
OTHERWISE...CONFIDENCE IS AROUND AVERAGE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE
FORECAST ELEMENTS.
&&
.AVIATION...GUSTY OUTFLOW WILL CONTINUE TO CREATE TURBULENT
AIRFLOW FOR PILOTS TODAY. LOW-LEVEL WIND SHEAR WILL LIKELY OCCUR
NEAR INTERIOR PASSES OR IN AREAS PRONE TO MOUNTAIN WAVE WINDS IN
THE EASTERLY FLOW.
&&
.AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...STRONG WIND THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON FOR AKZ025.
STRONG WIND FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON FOR
AKZ019.
STRONG WIND THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON FOR AKZ018-029.
WIND CHILL ADVISORY UNTIL NOON AKST TODAY FOR AKZ018.
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 9 AM AKST TUESDAY
FOR AKZ018.
MARINE...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING FOR PKZ012.
STORM WARNING FOR PKZ012.
GALE WARNING FOR PKZ013-021-031-034-035-041-042.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ011-022-032-033-036-043-051>053.
&&
BEZENEK/GARNER
VISIT US AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/JUNEAU2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Skagway had frequent gusts 50 to 60 mph on Jan 5th with peak winds 60 to 65 mph. Wind chills around -9F were observed in Skagway. No damage or impacts reported.
Douglas Boat Harbor had a measured gust of 64 mph at 05/1120 pm. Numerous gusts in the 40s and 50s mph were observed for Downtown Juneau and Douglas. No damage or power outages were reported.
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, January 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: 547325, 547326.