A 955 mb low pressure system moved into Bristol Bay, bringing an occluded front through the southern portion of the state. As the front approached, winds began to gust through channeled areas, including Turnagain Arm and the Anchorage Hillside.
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 955 mb low pressure system moved into Bristol Bay, bringing an occluded front through the southern portion of the state. As the front approached, winds began to gust through channeled areas, including Turnagain Arm and the Anchorage Hillside. This was a classic winter wind event for Anchorage.
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 9, 4:56 AM AKST, 7 hours 4 minutes earlier.
Southcentral and Southwest Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Anchorage AK 456 AM AKST Sat Mar 9 2019 .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... A very strong 180 knot upper-level jet is currently positioned south of the Aleutians, stretching thousands of miles across the Pacific to 160E. A much weaker ~100 knot north-south oriented jet spans the central mainland. An mid-level low is located in the left exit region of the Aleutian jet continues to strengthen and is now nearly completely phased with a weaker low that was spinning in the central Bering for the past few days. The mid- level ridge axis over eastern Alaska last night has now moved over Canada and a trough has developed in its wake, currently centered over the Barren Islands. A weak surface trough slightly downstream of the mid-level trough is bringing mixed precipitation to coastal areas along Prince William Sound. A strong ~950mb surface low is tracking across the central Bering and radar is indicating associated precipitation along the western mainland coast. The strong steering winds aloft will cause this front to move quickly into interior portions of the state. && .MODEL DISCUSSION... Models remain in good agreement in the near-term. The strong, broad area of low pressure will continue to track across the Bering. Its associated front is expected to bring strong winds to Southcentral beginning this afternoon. As models have indicated the higher Turnagain Arm winds for several days now, confidence is high. There remains some uncertainty with how strong the winds will be in Anchorage proper as well as precipitation types along coastal areas. && .AVIATION... PANC...VFR conditions are expected to persist through the forecast period. The main issue will be gusty southeasterly winds this afternoon through early Sunday morning. Winds are expected to peak at approximately 05z, potentially reaching 35-40 kts before gradually diminishing thereafter. Wind shear is not in the current TAF, however if surface winds verify lower than our forecast, speed sheer in particular could be a threat. Winds at 2000 feet are expected at around 45-50 kts. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA (Days 1 and 2: Today and Sunday)... A front over the Alaska Peninsula will track to the northeast today and into Southcentral Alaska this afternoon. This strong front, that is anchored by a low in the Bering, will bring strong winds and heavy precipitation to the area. Additionally, it will pull in warmer air resulting in a change from snow to rain for many low lying areas and cutting off the possibility for blowing snow conditions that would drastically reduce visibility. The majority of the precipitation will be along the north Gulf coast with the eastern Kenai Peninsula seeing the highest amounts. Gaps and passes with an east/west orientation will see strong winds with this system that will increase throughout the morning and peak this afternoon/evening. One of the locations that will see the strongest winds will be along Turnagain Arm where a High Wind Warning has been issued for winds gusting to 80 MPH. Winds and precipitation will begin to diminish Sunday morning after the front passes, but will linger, to a lesser extent, around the same locations through Sunday night. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHWEST ALASKA (Days 1 and 2)... A strong front associated with a low in the eastern Bering will push across Southwest today. Winds along the front will be strong particularly along the coast in the lee of gaps and passes in the Alaska and Aleutian Ranges. Winds along the coast are currently gusting to around 40 mph and expect coast winds to peak around mid-morning, while farther inland gusts could reach 70 mph by early afternoon from Kamishak Bay to the Nushagak Hills. Persistent southeast flow with a deep fetch of moisture will bring temperatures to the upper 30s to low 40s for most of Southwest this afternoon. Accordingly, other than along the ridges precipitation will be rain. Downslope winds will limit precipitation amounts for areas in the lee of the Aleutian/Alaska Ranges and the Kilbuck/Ahklun Mountains, and increase highs to the mid 40s. The front will clear the region tonight, and a showery pattern with diminished winds is expected in its wake. As the low shifts inland, cold air from eastern Siberia will wrap around and winds will shift to onshore and temperatures will decrease Sunday into Monday. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS (Days 1 and 2)... A vertically stacked low in the central Bering will continue to bring a swath of storm force winds south of the Aleutians and rain showers to much of the Bering, Aleutians and Pribilofs into this afternoon. Cold air advection around the west side of the low will support a large area of gales in the western/central Bering. Precipitation will changeover to snow from west to east into Sunday, but with a much drier air mass, snow amounts will be light. Winds will diminish substantially Sunday. The next North Pacific low will approach the western Aleutians Sunday afternoon, but does not look very impactful with winds likely only small craft advisory level. That said, it may be a bit early to completely rule out gales. && .MARINE (Days 3 through 5)... Beginning the day 3 period on Monday, confidence is high that the overall storm track will be shifting east into the Gulf of Alaska. There is a high likelihood of a strong gale force to low end storm force low moving into the Gulf of AK Tue night and Wednesday. The large size of this low means it will impact all of the Gulf waters as the low deepens then stalls with gale force winds likely lasting through Thursday. Over the Bering Sea, broad cyclonic flow with 20-30 knot winds will gradually weaken through Tuesday night as the storm track shifts eastward. This will bring a break to what has been a very stormy Bering Sea of late as no strong lows are expected through Thursday (likely remaining at or below gale force through that period). && .LONG TERM FORECAST (Days 3 through 7: Sunday evening through Friday)... Beginning the long term forecast Sunday evening, there will be an upper level low centered over Southwest Alaska with that cyclonic flow extending over the Bering Sea. Colder air will be filtering into Southcentral on Monday as the trough shifts east. Rain and snow will gradually become all snow Monday evening across all of Southcentral, but no significant accumulations are expected inland given the relative warm temps in place and the showery nature of the precipitation. As the mainland trough moves east into Canada, another shortwave trough trailing over the Bering Sea will dig south and amplify the flow. This will make the pattern become more meridional Tuesday with increasing chances for coastal rain/snow and inland areas of mostly snow. On Wednesday a deep Gulf low will develop and bring storminess to the Gulf region with more chances for heavier coastal precipitation into the late week. Conversely, rather strong downslope flow will generally keep Southcentral inland areas drier. For Southwest, it looks like the region west of the AK Range will stay on the colder side of the cyclonic flow with increasing chances for accumulating snow Tuesday into Friday. && .AFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PUBLIC...High Wind Warning 101. MARINE...Storm Warning 155 172 174 176. Gale Warning 119 120 125 129 130-132 136-139 141 150 160 165 170 171 173 175 177-181 185 351 352 411-413. FIRE WEATHER...NONE. && SYNOPSIS AND MODEL DISCUSSION...AP/JW SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA...DK SOUTHWEST ALASKA/BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS...MM MARINE/LONG TERM...JA
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several mesonet stations recorded winds gusts above 73 mph between noon and 4 p.m. The highest gust recorded was 81 mph off Potter Valley Rd.
Portage ASOS recorded wind gusts above 73 mph for two hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, March 2019
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: 815944, 815949.