Bands of snow showers moved across the region over a 24 hour period on 12/19 & 12/20. Initially showers were very convective with ice pellets or sleet falling which reduced accumulations in Yakutat and Cross Sound areas during the afternoon/evening 12/19.
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.
Bands of snow showers moved across the region over a 24 hour period on 12/19 & 12/20. Initially showers were very convective with ice pellets or sleet falling which reduced accumulations in Yakutat and Cross Sound areas during the afternoon/evening 12/19. More bands cross the region after that with the greatest snowfall rates and training occurring early Thursday morning on the 20th. More showers occurred in Pelican, Juneau, Haines, Skagway and possibly areas in between. No damage was reported. Impacts were snow removal and poor driving conditions.
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 Dec 19, 2:42 PM AKST, 18 minutes earlier.
Southeast Alaska Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED
National Weather Service Juneau AK
242 PM AKST Wed Dec 19 2018
.SHORT TERM...Vorticity lobes aloft in the flow are spawning bands
of showers over the eastern Gulf of Alaska and they are moving
onshore the Northeast Gulf Coast and Southeast Alaska. There
quite a lot of very cold air moving across the gulf aloft so this
is assisting the shower development. Some of the showers are
showing very good vertical development, and some of the those are
triggering the lightning detection systems on the satellites
watching our area.
The cool air is also going to cool air temperature down, and mean
much of the showers will be falling as snow or even a mix for the
southern panhandle.
Have kept the Winter Storm Warning for the Northeast gulf coast
from Cape Edgecumbe north and west to Cape Suckling with amounts
similar to what was expected earlier. Newer models solutions are
hinting that one of the waves for later Thursday will be further
east and then move over the northern panhandle. So this will help
to spread some of the heavier snow accumulations east. We keep the
Gustavus area just shy of advisory amounts, but should see enough
for the Juneau area tonight to mid day Thursday.
Should be seeing brief ridging ahead of the low moving in to the
western gulf on Friday, so this will move most of the showers
east of the area or suppress the activity a little so they should
lessen. Late Friday will have another frontal stretching across
the southern gulf to the southern panhandle Friday afternoon.
.LONG TERM.../Friday through Tuesday/...As of 10pm Tuesday. On
Friday an upper level ridge will be over the panhandle, but the
ridge axis will likely already have passed, or will through the
morning. Therefore some onshore flow will keep scattered showers
in the forecast.
The next low pressure system will be over the western gulf on Friday
night with an elongated front extending east to the southern outer
coast/panhandle. There is some indication of a weak low center
development along the trough axis near the southern outer coast, but
have not included this in the current forecast package. The front
will spread north through Saturday with some rain/snow, but with the
parent low being so far disconnected not expecting much in the way
of strong winds or heavy precip rates. Temperatures aloft will be
warming with the front over the south, but most places across the
north should be cold enough for snow. Again, this front looks to be
weakening as it progresses north, so accumulations should be on the
low end.
Models disagree widely on where this low goes Sunday into Monday,
even at the upper levels. The 18z GFS took it north between PWS and
Yakutat and the 00z run instead moved a separate low south of the
area. The ECMWF weakens it to a trough as it passes by the
panhandle, but then shifts most energy south. Meanwhile the Canadian
model takes a southern track toward the B.C. coast. It goes without
saying that each of these tracks would result in vastly different
weather, so the weekend forecast is still uncertain. If the southern
low ends up being the consensus like the new 00z runs are
indicating, then the northern half of the panhandle will likely have
a much lower precip potential.
Monday night into Tuesday there is better agreement on a ridge of
high pressure building over the gulf and an inverted trough over the
southern inner channels, shifting flow to a NW direction and helping
to dry things out even more. Some models try to bring a trough
through the ridge Wednesday night/Thursday, so the break may not
last.
Overall the ECMWF was the most consistent model run to run, so
preferred that for changes.
&&
.AJK Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
PUBLIC...Winter Weather Advisory until noon AKST Thursday for AKZ025.
Winter Storm Warning until noon AKST Thursday for AKZ017-022.
MARINE...Gale Warning for PKZ012-021-032-042.
Small Craft Advisory for PKZ011-013-031-033-034-041-043-051>053.
Small Craft Advisory due to Seas for PKZ022.
&&
Bezenek/Ferrin
Visit us at http://www.weather.gov/Juneau1 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Pelican observed 11.0 inched storm total snowfall as of the afternoon of 12/20. No damage was reported. Impact was snow removal.
Haines Customs got 8 inches of new snow overnight on 12/19. Additional snow on 12/20. No damage was reported. Impact was poor driving on the Haines Road and snow removal.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2018
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: 790446, 790447.