A low pressure system in the Gulf of Alaska formed a new center close to the Prince William Sound. As this low brought a trough through the Prince William Sound area, the trough combined with a dome of cold air over the Copper River Basin to cause blizzard conditions through the gaps of the Chugach Range.
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 low pressure system in the Gulf of Alaska formed a new center close to the Prince William Sound. As this low brought a trough through the Prince William Sound area, the trough combined with a dome of cold air over the Copper River Basin to cause blizzard conditions through the gaps of the Chugach Range.
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 Jan 24, 4:48 PM AKST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Southcentral and Southwest Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Anchorage AK 448 PM AKST Wed Jan 24 2018 .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... The 250 mb upper level pattern remains very similar today compared to the previous few days, with an upper level trough over the mainland part of the state and a strong ridge over the Bering Sea. The trough has shifted eastward some which is what has pushed the light snowfall eastward and over the Talkeetna mountains. This low will move southward over the next few days and bring colder temperatures along with it. At the surface, the pressure gradient along the north Gulf coast will continue to increase and bring gusty outflow winds. A complex surface low is developing in the eastern Gulf of Alaska and will rotate into the northern Gulf late Thursday. The surface high remains centered over the Central Aleutians and is producing a tight pressure gradient between this high and the developing Gulf low. && .MODEL DISCUSSION... Models have all settled on the track of the 500 mb upper level low in the Interior moving to around Kodiak Thursday evening and then continuing to move southward. All models are indicating the upper level ridge in the Bering Sea will persist well into next week. The surface low moving into the eastern Gulf of Alaska tonight and tomorrow will be complex in nature with more than one center. The strongest center location is similar on the different models, but with a cold system such as this, there can be small but potent lows that develop in the Gulf off the northwest winds. The NAM is trying hard to pinpoint each of these lows but is changing the locations with each run. && .AVIATION... PANC...VFR conditions will continue but there may be periods where ceiling heights drop below 5000 ft through the night. Northerly winds are going to persist through tomorrow. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA (Days Today and Thursday)... Brutally cold air has moved into Southcentral and many locations will see single digit highs or lower. The potential fly in the ointment will be over the Anchorage Bowl and the Mat-Su Valleys where cloud coverage will come into play. Where the clouds clear, expect strong radiational cooling and bone chilling temperatures. If the clouds linger, the temps might remain above the zero degree threshold. A Wind Chill Advisory along the Parks Highway from Cantwell and through Broad Pass has been issued for tonight, where some of the strongest winds are combining with the cold air. The longwave pattern features a ridge over the Bering and a trough extending from the North Slope and into the Gulf Of Alaska. As time elapses, expect the upper low that has been over the interior to drop southward and across the AKPEN. The strong temperature gradient along the Aleutian Range will persist through this forecast package resulting in strong gap winds. Gale to storm force winds along with rough seas will continue over the western Gulf through Friday. However, as the aforementioned upper low nears Kodiak the winds over the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound will turn easterly. The focus will be the potential formation of a barrier jet south of Cordova and in the vicinity of Hinchinbrook Island. As the flow aloft becomes more easterly across the Gulf and the surface low track recurves, moisture will spread into Eastern Prince William Sound, with potential for a prolonged period of snow accumulation. The best bet for new snow will be Cordova and the adjacent areas to the north and east. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHWEST ALASKA (Days 1 and 2: Thursday and Friday)... An upper level low currently on the south side of the Brooks Range is the primary driver of the weather across Southwest Alaska. The upper level low represents the core of the coldest air over the state. It is forecast to track south over the next 36 hours to the west side of the Alaska Range. Thus, temperatures will continue falling into Thursday night. As the low moves southward over interior Southwest Alaska, surface ridging and high pressure will also build southward through the northern Bering. This large difference in pressure is expected to kick up the winds Thursday night just as the coldest air is moving through Southwest Alaska, especially through the Kuskokwim Delta. For that reason, inland colder locations are under a Wind Chill Advisory Thursday night into Friday. For the Lower Kuskokwim Valley and Bristol Bay, winds will be just low enough that any wind chills meeting criteria should be brief and isolated, though widespread wind chills between 30 and 40 below are expected. Behind the low during the day Friday, temperatures should begin a healthy rebound back closer to average over the Lower Kuskokwim Valley and Bristol Bay. This will be in part due to the expectation of additional cloud cover holding in what little surface heating there is. However for the Kuskokwim Delta, continued cold advection will make temperatures have a very difficult time moving much during the day Friday, and conditions meeting wind chill advisory criteria may well continue past noon. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS (Days 1 and 2: Thursday and Friday)... As a strong low near Kamchatka lifts northward, it will help build a broad ridge that has been over the southern Bering northward across the central Bering. This highly amplified pattern will help accelerate the polar low over Alaska to the south. Meanwhile, though the upper level ridge builds northward, it will be squeezed between the two lows on either side of it, making for a "skinny ridge". The net effect will be more active weather developing across the western Bering and western Aleutians as a front makes a little eastward progress in that area. However, the ridge is expected to persist in place enough to block any further eastward progress. It also means that cold advection will continue for the foreseeable future across the eastern Bering. The non-stop snow shower activity moving south into the Alaska Peninsula and eastern Aleutians will also continue. Meanwhile strengthening winds will lead to continued blowing snow concerns for the southern Alaska Peninsula through Cold Bay. Due to the showery nature of the precipitation, it remains unlikely that visibilities will remain low enough for a long enough period of time to meet advisory criteria. && .LONG TERM FORECAST (Days 3 through 7)... The Arctic trough that will dive southward through the Mainland and into the Gulf late this week will begin tracking into the North Pacific for the weekend. This will allow for the blocking ridge that has setup over the Bering to move eastward, bringing generally clear skies, below normal temperatures and strong gap winds along the Gulf Coast into early next week. This small change in the pattern will limit chances of precipitation to just the Gulf Coast late Friday-Saturday, as the remnants of a weak low moving through the North Gulf diminishes. After this occurs, little in the way of precipitation is expected throughout the Southern Mainland looking into early next week. For the Eastern Aleutians/Bering, the persistent and gusty northwest flow and widespread snow showers currently over the area will come to an end on Saturday as the flow weakens and becomes easterly. The Western Bering/Aleutians will however see little overall change to the current pattern as southerly flow will continue to bring a series of gale force fronts and rain to the area until this weekend. Model agreement is very good into early next week depicting a break in the rain/wind as ridging expands westward. && .AFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PUBLIC...Wind Chill Advisory 145 155. MARINE...Heavy Freezing Spray Warning 120 121 126 127 129 130 131 132 136 137 138 139 141 150 160 165 180 181 185. Storm Warning 130. Gale Warning 121 127 129 131 132 136 138 150 155 160 165 172 178 180. && SYNOPSIS AND MODEL DISCUSSION...EZ SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA...PS SOUTHWEST ALASKA/BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS...JW LONG TERM...DEK
1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Report from DOT Maintenance Camp in Thompson Pass indicated variable visibility between 0-100 ft. Worst conditions between miles 25-28 on the Richardson Highway.
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, January 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: 731008.