Winter Weather, Middle Tanana Valley
- When
- October 29, 10:00 AM AKST to 3:00 PM AKST
- Where
- Middle Tanana Valley forecast zone
- Deaths
- 0 direct, 1 indirect
- Injuries
- 0 direct, 3 indirect
- Reported by
- Newspaper
Winter Weather in Alaska, October 29, 2016
Warm air aloft along with light precipitation and below freezing surface temperatures caused light freezing rain during the morning and early afternoon on the 29th in the Fairbanks area, making roads and highways slippery. A traffic accident occurred northeast of Fairbanks on Chena hot springs road when two vehicles collided head on that closed traffic for several hours.
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 3
- 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.
Warm air aloft along with light precipitation and below freezing surface temperatures caused light freezing rain during the morning and early afternoon on the 29th in the Fairbanks area, making roads and highways slippery. A traffic accident occurred northeast of Fairbanks on Chena hot springs road when two vehicles collided head on that closed traffic for several hours. A 33 year-old male was killed (indirect) and two other persons were injured (indirect).
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 Oct 29, 5:05 AM AKST, 4 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 29, 5:05 AM AKST, 4 hours 55 minutes before
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</html>Event by event
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather, Middle Tanana Valley | 2016-10-29 | 31 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect |
What these are
- Winter Weather
- Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Alaska in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, October 2016
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 662961.