Strong SSW flow aloft ahead of an occluded front on 2/10 brought snow, high winds, and even blizzard conditions to the Panhandle. As the front moved onshore on 2/11, warm air overrunning very cold air at the surface caused the snow to accumulate rapidly.
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.
Strong SSW flow aloft ahead of an occluded front on 2/10 brought snow, high winds, and even blizzard conditions to the Panhandle. As the front moved onshore on 2/11, warm air overrunning very cold air at the surface caused the snow to accumulate rapidly. White Pass was closed, and snow combined with wind gusts over 60 mph caused road and marine problems throughout SE Alaska. Some locations measured over a foot of new snowfall.
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 Feb 10, 6:26 AM AKST, 8 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Southeast Alaska Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Juneau AK
626 AM AKST Fri Feb 10 2017
.SHORT TERM...The current satellite imagery shows snow showers
moving onshore as a upper level trof drifts east over the
forecast area. This trof will be over Canada by tonight as a
upper ridge builds over the area from the south. There was not
many changes in the short term forecast this morning. Advisory
level snow still looks good across the area with the snow mixing
with rain over the coastal and southern areas this afternoon. The
central and northern inner channels will see steady light snow
with periods of heavy showers. There is also a chance that some
areas will see training of cells to produce higher snow amounts.
Satellite imagery shows cooling cloud tops over the gulf and with
the upper level dynamics associated with the upper trof it will
enhance the snow showers. Amounts will range from 5 to 10 inches
with locally higher amounts before mixing with rain overnight.
The winter storm watch for the far northern areas has been
cancelled for the Haines area but the Skagway area is now under a
high wind watch at lower elevations and Blizzard warning for
elevations about 2000 feet. See long term for more information on
this.
The surface trof will increase the winds in e/w channels this
morning but they will decrease and back around to the west as the
trof drifts east. The southern inner channels will see an increase
by the afternoon with the gradient tightening. The winds over the
gulf will remain 25 to 30 kt from the west through this afternoon
but will veer to the southwest through tonight as a wave begins to
lift out of the North Pacific.
The inner channels will see an increase in the winds through
tonight as the surface ridge builds from south to north. By late
tonight there will be a southerly push with widespread small
crafts and gusty land winds. The strongest land winds will over
the far northern inner channels with gusts of 30 to 40 mph.
There is significant warm air associated with the ridge so
through tonight areas with snow will see a change over to rain.
The only exception to that will be the Haines and Skagway area.
They will see snow accumulations of 3 to 5 inches before they too
mix with rain by Saturday morning.
Overall there is about average forecaster confidence.
.LONG TERM...A deepening low will move NE to the NE gulf by late
Sat afternoon. Trailing occluded front will move slowly onshore
Sat afternoon through Sat night. More systems will move into the
gulf for much of next week, but models differ somewhat on track of
main low centers. Most forecast adjustments were made through Sun
night using the 00z GFS for pressures/winds, with some SREF
blended in for POPs. Used 06z NAM to handle QPF as it was fairly
close to GFS.
Strong system will bring much warmer air N into the area Sat with
most places near sea level warming into the 40s. Expect any snow
near sea level over the north to change to rain by late morning,
even in the normally colder areas as strong southerly winds will
wipe out cold air fairly quickly. Widespread gale to storm force
winds are expected ahead of the front Sat into Sat night. Have
issued high wind watches for zones 27 and 28 as well as below 2000
feet of zone 18 for Sat afternoon and/or Sat evening/night. Above
2000 feet in zone 18, should remain cold enough for all snow and
it will be heavy and blown around by strong winds. This will cause
blizzard conditions near White Pass Sat into Sat evening, so
issued a blizzard warning for zone 18 above 2000 feet for that
time frame. Otherwise, heavy rain is expected with strong deep
layer S-SW flow and abnormally high precip water values ahead of
the front. Rainfall could exceed 2 inches over most of the area
Sat and Sat night.
MAy see transition to showers later Sat night over mainly the N
half of the area. Models have trended cooler behind the front over
the N and this may allow some of the showers to be mainly snow.
This cooldown will be brief though as next system will help pump
up strong upper ridge and bring much warmer air into the area by
Sun night or Mon morning. Looking like another round of heavy rain
and strong wind, but exact timing and areal extent of this is
still up in the air due to the model differences handling main
low centers and fronts.
&&
.AJK Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
PUBLIC...Winter Weather Advisory until 3 AM AKST Saturday for AKZ017-022-
024-026.
Strong Wind from Saturday morning through Saturday evening for
AKZ025-026.
Winter Weather Advisory until noon AKST today for AKZ023-027-028.
High Wind Watch from Saturday afternoon through late Saturday
night for AKZ027.
Strong Wind from Saturday morning through Saturday evening for
AKZ022-024.
Winter Weather Advisory until 3 AM AKST Saturday for AKZ020-021-
025.
Strong Wind from Saturday morning through Saturday evening for
AKZ023.
Strong Wind from Saturday afternoon through Saturday evening for
AKZ020-021.
High Wind Watch from Saturday evening through late Saturday
night for AKZ028.
Strong Wind from Saturday afternoon through Saturday evening for
AKZ029.
Strong Wind from Saturday afternoon through late Saturday night
for AKZ019.
High Wind Watch from Saturday afternoon through late Saturday
night for AKZ018.
Blizzard Warning from 6 AM Saturday to midnight AKST Saturday
night for AKZ018.
Strong Wind Saturday afternoon for AKZ017.
MARINE...Small Craft Advisory for PKZ012-013-021-022-031>036-041>043-051-
052.
Small Craft Advisory due to Seas for PKZ053.
&&
ABJ/RWT
Visit us at http://www.weather.gov/JuneauPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
925 AM AKST FRI FEB 10 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0800 AM SNOW HOLLIS 55.48N 132.67W
02/10/2017 M2.5 INCH AK CO-OP OBSERVER
MEASURED AT HOLLIS COOP STATION.
0800 AM SNOW HAINES 59.24N 135.44W
02/10/2017 M3.6 INCH AK CO-OP OBSERVER
MEASURED AT HAINES COOP STATION.
0800 AM SNOW 11 NW KETCHIKAN 55.45N 131.84W
02/10/2017 M2.0 INCH AK CO-OP OBSERVER
2 INCH OF SNOW SINCE AROUND 6 AM.
0800 AM SNOW MUD BAY 59.15N 135.37W
02/10/2017 E2.5 INCH AK TRAINED SPOTTER
ESTIMATED SNOW FALL OF 2 TO 3 INCHES AT MUD BAY.
0900 AM SNOW YAKUTAT 59.54N 139.73W
02/10/2017 M8.2 INCH AK OFFICIAL NWS OBS
THE WSO IN YAKUTAT REPORTED 8.2 INCHES OF SNOW SINCE 3 PM
THURSDAY AFTERNOON.
0908 AM SNOW ANNETTE 55.04N 131.59W
02/10/2017 M2.0 INCH AK OFFICIAL NWS OBS
SNOW FELL IN TWO HOURS. CURRENTLY SNOWING HEAVILY WITH
NEAR 0 VISIBILITY.
&&
EALPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
1238 PM AKST FRI FEB 10 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0933 AM SNOW SITKA 57.05N 135.34W
02/10/2017 M2.0 INCH AK EMERGENCY MNGR
2 INCHES OF SNOW IN SITKA. ROADS ARE SLICK.
0943 AM SNOW KLAWOCK 55.55N 133.09W
02/10/2017 U2.5 INCH AK PUBLIC
ESTIMATED 2 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW IN KLAWOCK FROM THE DOT.
1020 AM SNOW KETCHIKAN 55.34N 131.65W
02/10/2017 E4.0 INCH AK BROADCAST MEDIA
UP TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW REPORTED IN PARTS OF KETCHIKAN SO
FAR.
1100 AM SNOW MUD BAY 59.15N 135.37W
02/10/2017 M6.0 INCH AK TRAINED SPOTTER
TOTAL SO FAR AT MUD BAY. 1 INCH OF THAT FELL IN THE LAST
HOUR.
1200 PM SNOW HAINES 59.24N 135.44W
02/10/2017 E6.0 INCH AK PUBLIC
FROM DOT. 6 INCHES OF SNOW FROM HAINES TO MILE 10 OF THE
HAINES HIGHWAY. 3 TO 4 INCHES ON THE REST OF THE HIGHWAY.
HEAVY SNOW AND POOR VISIBILITY.
1220 PM SNOW PELICAN 57.95N 136.21W
02/10/2017 M4.5 INCH AK CO-OP OBSERVER
4.5 INCHES SINCE 8 AM AT PELICAN.
&&
EAL6 high wind, 3 winter storm, 1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total for Yakutat on this event was 18 inches new snow.
Storm total snow 10.5 inches measured on 2/12 by the Hyder COOP. Snow changed to rain shrinking the snowpack making snow removal an awful mess.
All reports are from Alaska State DOT. At 0800 on 2/11 moderate snow with the visibility 400 FT and 25 MPH wind. At noon on 2/11 white out conditions in the pass. |The road was closed due to avalanches. At 2/12 at 0800 the storm total new snowfall was 17 inches. The road was closed most of the day on 2/12. Impact was snow removal and transportation stopped.
While the road was having a blizzard, Skagway got some strong wind. Gusts in the 50s and 60s MPH all day on 2/11 through the night.
Sitka AML measured 76 MPH gusts during this storm. No damage was reported.
Point Baker spotter recorded 60 to 70 MPH gusts on 2/11 with skiffs near sinking and branches down.
Cape Decision (marine observation) showed extreme wind on the afternoon and evening of 2/11 with gusts up to 80 MPH. It was strange that Hydaburg only had gusts in the 40s. No damage was reported.
Downtown Juneau and Douglas had strong winds on 2/11. Three sites measured gusts in the 60s MPH. No damage was reported.
Mud Bay spotter measured 16 inches storm total new snow for this event. Downtown Haines measured 13.8 inches with nearly 8 inches in 12 hours ending at 2100 AKST on 2/11. Customs didn't get very much snow. Lutak Road had a power outage for 24 hours. A 38 FT fishing vessel sank in the harbor weighted down by the snow dump. Snow removal was also a big impact.
FAA obs at the Ketchikan tower had the roof wind peak at 58 MPH. Lincoln Island obs had plenty of gusts around 50 KT.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 2017
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: 678395, 678398, 678394, 678399, 678400, 678402, 678403, 678401, 678396, 678404.