Name: High Wind in Alaska, January 6 to 8, 2015
Start: 2015-01-06T11:55
End: 2015-01-08T01:55
Location: Alaska

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 strong 1056 mb high pressure center over the Yukon valley, and low pressure over the Gulf of Alaska set up a strong belt of winds near the southern slopes of the Brooks Range as well as the higher elevations of the Upper Koyukuk Valley area. High winds were reported at: | |Zone 219 - The Indian Mountain AWOS reported a max gust of 60 mph (52 kt).

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 Jan 6, 5:27 AM AKST, 6 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 6, 5:27 AM AKST, 6 hours 28 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
527 AM AKST TUE JAN 6 2015

.DISCUSSION...

ALOFT...MODELS IN AGREEMENT WITH A WEAK 529 LOW OVER BETHEL MOVING
INTO BRISTOL BAY AND DEEPENING ON THURSDAY WHILE A 561 DAM HIGH
OVER RUSSIA WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS NORTHERN ALASKA THROUGH
WEDNESDAY. MODELS INDICATING THE DEVELOPING LOW IN BRISTOL BAY ON
THURSDAY COULD BRING PRECIP ACROSS THE YUKON DELTA BY THU
AFTERNOON. EAST OF THIS LOW SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL DEVELOP AND BRING
PUSH WARMER AIR INTO THE ALASKA RANGE.

SURFACE....A WEATHER FRONT OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL MOVE NORTH
TO LIE FROM BRISTOL BAY TO KODIAK ISLAND AND EASTWARD WED
MORNING...AND OVER THE NORTH GULF COAST WED AFTERNOON. A 1043 MB
HIGH OVER THE CHUKOTSK PENINSULA WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AND BUILD TO
1045 MB NORTH OF BARROW AT 3PM TUE...THEN EAST TO BE 1049 MB OVER
MACKENZIE BAY AT 3 PM WED.

NORTH SLOPE...AREAS OF IFR CLOUDS MOVING ACROSS THE NORTH SLOPE
THIS MORNING. CLEARING FROM WEST TO EAST THROUGH THE DAY.
AN INCREASING PRESSURE GRADIENT OVER NORTHERN ALASKA SOUTH OF THE
BROOKS RANGE IS OCCURRING NOW. LOCALLY STRONG WINDS IN PASSES OF
THE BROOKS RANGE WITH LOW VISIBILITIES AND BLOWING SNOW THROUGH
TUESDAY.

INTERIOR...CLEAR AND COLD CONTINUES AT LEAST THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
THEN A PATTERN CHANGE WITH WARMER 850 TEMPS AND CLOUDS BY THURSDAY
NIGHT WILL EASE THE EARLY JAN COLD SPELL A BIT WITH HIGHS ZERO TO
10 ABOVE POSSIBLE BY FRIDAY IN THE MIDDLE TANANA VALLEY AND UPPER
TEENS LOWER 20S ABOVE IN THE ALASKA RANGE.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING FOR PKZ210.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ200.
&&

JK JAN 15

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Upper Koyukuk Valley

When: January 6, 11:55 AM AKST to January 8, 1:55 AM AKST
Where: Upper Koyukuk Valley forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS

Peak wind gust 60 mph (52 kt).

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2015 Every state in 2015 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, January 2015

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: 555908.