High Wind, Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast
- When
- May 14, 11:54 PM AKST to May 15, 9:53 AM AKST
- Where
- Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast forecast zone
- Measured
- 55 kt (63 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- AWOS
Measured gust of 55 kts reported at Point Thompson.
High Wind in Alaska, May 14 to 15, 2015
A pressure gradient strengthened between a 1033 mb high pressure center over the Arctic Ocean coupled with low pressure center on the west coast of Alaska on the 14th. This caused high winds along the Beaufort Sea coast during the morning hours of the 15th of May as reported by the Point Thompson Airstrip AWOS.
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 pressure gradient strengthened between a 1033 mb high pressure center over the Arctic Ocean coupled with low pressure center on the west coast of Alaska on the 14th. This caused high winds along the Beaufort Sea coast during the morning hours of the 15th of May as reported by the Point Thompson Airstrip AWOS. This site recorded gusts to 55 kt (63 mph).
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 14, 11:51 AM AKST, 12 hours 3 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 14, 11:51 AM AKST, 12 hours 3 minutes before
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 1251 PM AKDT THU MAY 14 2015 .DISCUSSION... TEMPERATURES OVER THE INTERIOR AND CENTRAL/EASTERN ARCTIC SLOPE ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO AVERAGE SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE NORMAL INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK AS A MEAN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE EXTENDING FROM THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN ARCTIC COAST REMAINS IN PLACE...CONTINUING A SOUTHERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER THE NORTHERN ALASKA MAINLAND. CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR TEMPERATURES WILL A BIT COOLER SAT AS A SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVES NORTHWARD ACROSS NORTHERN ALASKA...BUT WILL REBOUND SUN AFTER THE SHORT WAVE MOVES NORTHWARD AND UPPER LEVEL RIDGING REBUILDS INTO THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR AND ARCTIC SLOPE. A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL REMAIN PREDOMINANT OVER THE WEST COAST AND WESTERN INTERIOR INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. A STRONG UPPER LOW NOW SOUTH OF THE EASTERN ALEUTIANS WILL TRACK EASTWARD THEN CURVE NORTHWARD INTO NORTON SOUND BY SAT MORNING WHILE OPENING UP INTO A STRONG SHORT WAVE TROUGH WHICH WILL EXTEND EASTWARD ACROSS THE INTERIOR. THE SHORT WAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE TO THE NORTHWEST ALASKA COAST BY SAT EVENING...THEN TRACK NORTHEASTWARD INTO THE BERING SEA SUN. WEST COAST... RAIN OVER MOST AREAS TONIGHT. CHANCE TO LIKELY POPS FRI AND CHANCE POPS FRI NIGHT. CHANCE TO LIKELY POPS SAT WITH THE NORTHWARD MOVING SHORT WAVE. ARCTIC COAST... EAST WINDS WILL DECREASE VERY SLOWLY TONIGHT AND SAT. SNOW LIKELY MOST AREAS WEST OF BARROW TONIGHT...WITH GRADUALLY DECREASING CHANCE OF SNOW FRI AND FRI NIGHT. NO PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED EAST OF BARROW. WESTERN INTERIOR... RAIN MOST AREAS TONIGHT...CHANCE OF RAIN MOST AREAS FRI...AND A CHANCE OF RAIN OVER THE EXTREME WESTERN AREAS FRI NIGHT. EASTERN INTERIOR... WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS CONTINUING THROUGH THE EARLY NEXT WEEK. SAT HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE SLIGHTLY COOLER AS THE NORTHWARD MOVING SHORT WAVE TROUGH TRANSITS THE INTERIOR. IN ZONE 225-226...LOCAL GUSTS TO 60 MPH IN PASSES EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH FRI NIGHT. GUSTS TO 25-40 MPH NEAR DELTA JUNCTION IN ZONE 223 CONTINUING THROUGH FRI NIGHT. WINDS IN ALL OF THESE AREAS DIMINISHING BY SAT AFTERNOON. && .FIRE WEATHER... WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS CONTINUING OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR... RED FLAGS REMAIN UP FOR ZONES 220-221-222-223-224-225-226. MIN HUMIDITY EXPECTED TO DROP TO 20 PERCENT OR LESS IN MOST OF THESE AREAS. ADDITIONALLY...STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH FRI NIGHT IN ZONES 225-226...WITH RED FLAG GUSTS IN ZONE 223. && .HYDROLOGY... ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES IN THE BROOKS RANGES AND ARCTIC SLOPE WILL LIKELY CONTINUE INTO AT LEAST NEXT WEEK. SNOWMELT IN THE BROOKS RANGE WILL LIKELY RESULT IN ABOVE NORMAL STAGES ON RIVERS DRAINING NORTHWARD OUT OF THE BROOKS RANGE. HIGH LEVELS WILL CONTINUE ON THE SAGAVANIRKTOK RIVER...THE RIVER AT PUMP STATION IS EXPECTED TO CREEP UP SLOWLY...POSSIBLY REACHING FLOOD STAGE MON. CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR RIVERS WILL REMAIN AT LOW LEVELS. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING FOR AKZ220-AKZ221-AKZ222-AKZ223-AKZ224-AKZ225- AKZ226. WIND ADVISORY FOR ZONES 225-226. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210. GALE WARNING FOR PKZ225-PKZ230-PKZ240-PKZ245. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ235. && RF MAY 15
Event by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Hurricane in Guam, May 14 to 16, 2015
- Flash Flooding and Debris Flow in California, May 14, 2015
- Flash Flood and Flood in Texas, May 14, 2015
- Damaging Winds in Texas, May 14, 2015
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Texas, May 14, 2015
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Utah, May 14, 2015
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, May 14, 2015
- Heavy Rain and Winter Weather in California, May 14 to 15, 2015
- Hail in New Mexico, May 14, 2015
- Funnel Clouds in California, May 14, 2015
- Hail in Oklahoma, May 14, 2015
- Funnel Cloud in Utah, May 14, 2015
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, May 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: 571176.