A high over the Bering Sea retrograded to the west and ushered in low pressure from the east. This produced a tightened gradient over the Prince William Sound.
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 AFC wrote it up.
A high over the Bering Sea retrograded to the west and ushered in low pressure from the east. This produced a tightened gradient over the Prince William Sound. A transiting trough generated high winds through Valdez.
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 Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 5, 4:11 PM AKST, 4 hours 39 minutes earlier.
Southcentral and Southwest Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Anchorage AK 411 PM AKST Sun Mar 5 2017 .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... A high amplitude blocking pattern continues with ridge centered over the eastern Bering and troughs on either side. The tail end of a short-wave trough extending from a very cold low over the Canadian Arctic is dropping southward across Southcentral Alaska today. This is bringing another round of cold air advection and favorable conditions for deep vertical mixing of winds, with stronger winds from aloft mixing down to the surface. Thus, gusty winds are developing across much of Southcentral and strengthening through the day. Out west, a front is elongating and weakening along the west side of the ridge with rain and winds focused across the central Bering and Aleutians. An active merry-go-round of lows continues over the northwest Pacific and far western Bering Sea which just helps to reinforce the downstream ridge and maintain a stable pattern. && .MODEL DISCUSSION... Model guidance is in good agreement and forecast confidence is generally high. The primary forecast challenge is determining how much wind will mix down to the surface over Southcentral and whether any areas will decouple from the boundary layer tonight (which would lead to lighter winds and colder temperatures). && .AVIATION... PANC...Another surge of cold air advection will lead to strengthening low level flow and some gusty winds at the surface. Although this event will not be as strong as others from the past week, it does look strong enough to keep the low levels well mixed and prevent de-coupling of surface winds from boundary layer winds. Thus, expect gusty winds to last all night long. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA (Days 1 and 2...Mon and Tue)...Dry and cold offshore flow will continue to start the work week. The pattern has changed little over the past few days and will not change for several more days. We are still waiting for the upper-level energy to push from north to south to help to mix the stronger winds into Thompson Pass and then Valdez. A high wind warning remains in effect for that area through Mon morning. Across the rest of Southcentral, abundant sunshine remains the rule. Winds have started to increase in the Susitna Valley and across the Western Kenai Peninsula. These winds should eventually make it into the Matanuska Valley and Anchorage this evening. Even though the skies will be clear tonight (which generally would lead to very cold temperatures), winds should keep many of the population centers a bit warmer than the past couple of mornings. Monday will bring more of the same weather. Winds should slowly diminish across most areas, though they will remain gusty in places like Valdez and Seward. The March sun will make the afternoon feel quite warm again, even though high temperatures will continue to hover about 10 degrees below normal within this Arctic airmass. Then by Tue afternoon, we will once again see a slight increase in the winds courtesy of some more upper-level energy spilling over the Bering ridge. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHWEST ALASKA (Days 1 and 2)... Sunny days and cold and clear nights can be expected through Wed as high pressure builds over the region. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS (Days 1 and 2)... A pair of small craft and gale force fronts will affect the western Aleutians through Wed. These will also bring rain and some snow to the area during the period. The eastern Aleutians will remain generally dry beneath building high pressure. && .LONG TERM FORECAST (Days 3 through 7)... Tuesday night and Wednesday, the large scale upper level ridge centered over the eastern Aleutians and Bering will tilt east into coastal Southwest Alaska. With significant warm advection aloft accompanying the ridge and strengthening night time inversions, expecting to see fog and low stratus impacting coastal portions of the Kuskokwim Delta Tuesday night, spreading to include the Bristol Bay area Wednesday night and then pushing further inland to impact most of the lowlands of Southwest Alaska by Thursday night. To the west of the large ridge, southerly flow and an active storm track will keep the western Aleutians in a wet and windy pattern through the week. For Southcentral Alaska, the offshore pressure gradient and resulting gap winds will increase again Tuesday night through Wednesday morning as the tilting upper level ridge pushes the deep trough east and puts Southcentral Alaska underneath the stronger northerly flow aloft in between the two features. The entire pattern continues to shift east Thursday and Friday as an upper trough out of Russia, rides up and over the ridge and flattening it somewhat. This shift will bring a gradual moderation in the offshore winds as well as ushering warmer air aloft into Southcentral Alaska. && .AFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PUBLIC...High Wind Warning 131. MARINE...Gale 127 128 178 185. Heavy Freezing Spray 121 126-130 138 139 141 185. && SYNOPSIS AND MODEL DISCUSSION...SEB SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA...MO SOUTHWEST ALASKA/BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS...DS LONG TERM...JR
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Alaska Department of Transportation Road Weather Information System reported a gust to 82 mph at 10:20 p.m.
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, March 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: 683120.