Name: High Wind in Alaska, July 17, 2015
Start: 2015-07-17T03:00
End: 2015-07-17T12:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 990 mb low pressure system moved into the southern Bering Sea on the 16th of July. The associated occluded front from this system moved north toward the Alaska Range, causing high winds during the early morning hours of the 17th of July at several locations:

Zone 223: Peak wind gust of 61 kt (70 mph) reported at the U.S. Army mesonet site named North Test Track.

Zone 226: Peak wind gust of 61 kt (70 mph) reported at the U.S. Army mesonet site named Texas Condo.

Zone 226: Peak wind gust of 52 kt (61 mph) reported at the U.S. Army mesonet site named Texas Range.

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 Jul 17, 1:22 AM AKST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 1:22 AM AKST, 1 hour 38 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
222 AM AKDT FRI JUL 17 2015

.DISCUSSION...

CURRENT MODELS RUNS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON HANDLING OF
THE MAJOR SURFACE AND UPPER AIR FEATURES OUT THROUGH SUNDAY.

UPPER AIR...
UPPER LOW CENTERED ABOUT 100 MILES NORTHEAST OF BETHEL
WILL MOVE TO NEAR HUSLIA BY 4 AM SATURDAY AND TO NEAR POINT
THOMPSON BY 4 AM SUNDAY WHILE SLOWLY WEAKENING. LITTLE FURTHER
MOVEMENT AND ADDITIONAL WEAKENING THROUGH 4 AM MONDAY.

MODERATELY STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW ACROSS THE ALASKA
RANGE WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS MORNING...THEN GRADUALLY
TRANSITION TO A WEAKER SOUTHWEST FLOW BY LATE THIS
EVENING.

A WEAK UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE FAR SOUTHWESTERN BERING SEA
WILL BUILD A LITTLE WHILE MOVING TO THE EASTERN BERING SEA BY 10
PM SUNDAY...THEN BUILD FURTHER OVER THE WEST COAST AND WESTERN
INTERIOR BY 4 PM MONDAY.

SURFACE...
A LOW PRESSURE TROUGH JUST NORTH OF THE ALASKA RANGE WILL
MOVE NORTHWARD TO THE BROOKS RANGE BY 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON...
THEN GRADUALLY WEAKEN WHILE REMAINING IN PLACE THROUGH 4 PM
SATURDAY. SOUTH WINDS GUSTING TO 55 MPH IN ALASKA RANGE PASSES
WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS EVENING...THEN GRADUALLY DIMINISH.
A 992 MB LOW CENTERED ABOUT 100 MILES NORTHEAST OF BETHEL
WILL WEAKEN TO A 998 MB CENTER OVER EASTERN NORTON SOUND
BY 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON AS A NEW 998 MB LOW DEVELOPS OVER
THE EASTERN BROOKS RANGE. THIS NEW LOW WILL WEAKEN TO A
1004 MB LOW OVER THE MACKENZIE RIVER DELTA AREA BY 4 PM
SATURDAY.

RAIN OR SHOWERS OVER MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA FROM THE INTERIOR
ARCTIC SLOPE SOUTHWARD TODAY AND TONIGHT...AND OVER MOST OF THE
INTERIOR...INLAND ARCTIC SLOPE AND THE BROOKS RANGE TONIGHT
SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. SHOWERS CONTINUING OVER MUCH OF THE
EASTERN INTERIOR SUNDAY.

OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS...THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL TOTALS ARE
ARE CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO BE IN ZONE 227 AND NEARBY AREAS IN
ZONES 215-216-225. THERE IS REASONABLY GOOD CONSENSUS BETWEEN
THE GFS/NAM/ECMWF MODELS IN THESE AREAS...RAINFALL TOTALS OF
1-1.5 POSSIBLE. THERE IS ALSO POTENTIAL FOR RAINFALL TOTALS OF
1-1.5 INCHES IN PARTS OF THE BROOKS RANGE.

FOG AT NIGHT AND IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS IS EXPECTED
TO CONTINUE OVER MUCH OF THE ARCTIC COAST THROUGH SUNDAY
WITH PREDOMINANTLY EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS. AREAS OF DENSE
FOG THIS MORNING OVER THE NORTHERN BERING SEA AND ST LAWRENCE
ISLAND.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
THUNDERSTORMS...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY EXPECTED THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING OVER THE WEST COAST...CENTRAL AND WESTERN
INTERIOR...AND NORTHERN PARTS OF THE EASTERN INTERIOR. ANY
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SATURDAY IS LIKELY TO BE VERY SPOTTY
AT BEST.

MINIMUM HUMIDITY...IS EXPECTED TO BE ABOVE 40% TODAY
THROUGH SUNDAY.

WETTING RAINS LIKELY OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL/WESTERN
INTERIOR AND BROOKS RANGE...AND LOCALLY IN PARTS OF
THE EASTERN INTERIOR.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...
RAINFALL WILL BRING THE LEVELS UP ON MANY RIVERS AND STREAMS. NO
FLOODING ISSUES EXPECTED AT THIS TIME AS RIVERS AND STREAMS ARE
CURRENTLY RUNNING AT VERY LOW LEVELS.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY FOR AKZ223-AKZ226.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ230-PKZ235-PKZ240-PKZ245.
&&

RF JUL 15

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Northeast Slopes of the Eastern Ak Range

When: July 17, 3:00 AM AKST to 12:00 PM AKST
Where: Northeast Slopes of the Eastern Ak Range forecast zone
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph) measured gust
Reported by: Mesonet

High Wind, Deltana and Tanana

When: July 17, 3:00 AM AKST to 12:00 PM AKST
Where: Deltana and Tanana forecast zone
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph) measured gust
Reported by: Mesonet

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, July 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: 591648, 591650.