A strong low pressure system created intense northerly winds along with blizzard conditions over much of the west coast of Alaska.
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 AFG wrote it up.
A strong low pressure system created intense northerly winds along with blizzard conditions over much of the west coast of Alaska.
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 Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 4, 2:20 PM AKST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
Northern Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fairbanks AK 320 PM AKDT Sat Apr 4 2020 .SYNOPSIS... The active weather pattern over Northern continues through early next week, as a series of weather systems move across the area. Across the West Coast and Western Interior, heavy snowfall, especially in the favored upslope areas, is expected, with rain or freezing rain mixing in with the snow from Kotzebue south. Strong and gusty winds, are expected to develop on the back side of the low tonight and into Sunday causing blowing snow. Across the Central and Eastern Interior, widespread snowfall is continues with rain expected to mix in with the snow across the Southern Interior. Winds increase across the Interior by Sunday, causing blowing snow over summits. A coastal surge will impact the West Coast with the possibility of water moving overtop the ice and then inland during the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... Models... The 12Z model suite initialized well against the 12Z surface analysis and verified well against the 18z surface analysis. Models continue to struggle with the evolution, track and strength of a strong low in the north Bering Sea and subsequent triple point that develops over the Seward Peninsula and mover over the Central Interior and Brooks Range. Significant differences emerge in the model solutions on the strength and track of the triple point low as early as tomorrow afternoon. The GFS remains the outlier as it moves the upper low across northern Alaska, maintaining more energy. We continued to lean towards the NAM for winds, with local edits to increase winds across the Y-K Delta and across the Interior. Blended in the SREF for pops to capture higher values. Aloft at 500 mb, a high pressure ridge over Central and Eastern Alaska will merge with a 555 dam high pressure ridge centered just east of Banks Island as a 496 dam low centered near the pole with a deep longwave trough extending south through the Bering Strait and Central Bering Sea will continue to deepen and push slowly east into the Eastern Bering and over the West Coast of Alsaka through early next week. A strong shortwave troughs will move north and east through the longwave and will push a 504 dam low east over the Brooks Range with a trailing strong shortwave south of the low pushing over the West Coast and Western Interior on Sunday and over the Central and Eastern Interior on Tuesday. Much colder air aloft will push eastward over Alaska with the 850 mb temperature over Fairbanks dropping from around 4 below this evening to 7 below Sunday morning and near 20 below by Monday morning. Strong and gusty winds at the surface will accompany the cold air aloft and will produce blowing and drifting snow over much of the West Coast and Interior especially the highway Summits in the Interior. Surface...A 985 mb low currently 250 nm southwest of the Bering Strait will continue to push north and east to be over the Bering Strait Sunday morning and along the Northwest Coast and Western North Slope on Sunday morning. The low will deepen again as it taps some cold air as it pushes just south of Point Barrow tomorrow evening. As the low continues to push east expect strong winds and falling snow to produce reduced visibilities in blowing snow to the East of Prudhoe Bay. A Winter Weather Advisory for blowing snow has been issued for zone 204 beginning at midnight tonight. A triple point low develops over the Western Seward Peninsula this evening and will and will push east into the Eastern Seward Peninsula Sunday and the Western Interior Monday Morning. The low will continue to weaken into a trough over the Central Brooks Range Monday afternoon and will continue to move north east over the the Eastern Brooks Range Monday night. North Slope and Brooks Range: A series of weather systems moving across the region will bring more snow through the weekend. The heaviest snowfall will occur on the southern facing slopes of the Brooks Range. From Utqiagvik west, 3 to 5 inches of snow are possible through weekend. East of Utqiagvik snowfall totals will generally be less than an inch. Gusty south winds continue in the passes of the eastern Brooks Range tonight, with gusts to 40 mph possible. Maintained the Winter Weather Advisory for zone 206 for blowing snow in the passes of the eastern Brooks Range and added a Winter Weather Advisory for zone 204 where strong westerly winds gusting to 55 mph wrapping around a deepening low north of the Eastern Arctic Coast will produce reduced visibiltiy in blowing snow east of Prudhoe Bay. West Coast and Western Interior: The latest in a series of weather fronts is moving north and east across the West Coast and Western Interior this afternoon, bringing a mix of rain and snow to the region. A strong low will move over St Lawrence Island this evening to Kotzebue Sound by Sunday and then weaken Sunday night. This system will produce heavy snowfall, especially in the favored upslope areas, strong winds, and blowing snow. Rain or freezing rain may mix in with snow at times this evening, primarily from Kotzebue south, before precip transitions to all snow by late tonight. Strong winds will develop tonight and Sunday on the back side of the low, with gusts to near 60 mph possible across the Y-K Delta and Norton Sound. This will cause areas of blowing snow likely reducing visibility to less than half a mile at times. Central and Eastern Interior: A weather front moving in from the west continues to bring widespread snowfall to the Interior this afternoon and will continue into Monday. The heaviest snowfall is expected to occur from Tanana north. The Middle Tanana Valley could see an additional 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight and an additional 1 to 2 inches on Sunday, with the highest amounts in the hills north of Fairbanks. Rain may mix with snow at times across the southern Interior and could result in lower snowfall totals. Southwest winds increase late tonight and will continue into Monday, with gusts to 30 mph. This will result in blowing and drifting snow, especially across the summits of the Interior. In the passes of the Alaska Range, southerly gap winds continue to increase this evening, peaking overnight with gusts to 50 mph in the western Alaska Range passes and 45 mph in the eastern Alaska Range passes. The winds are expected to diminish Sunday morning an are expected to remain below wind advisory criteria. Coastal Hazard Potential...The ongoing strong weather system that is currently affecting the west coast will continue through this weekend. This storm has the potential to cause elevated water levels along the coast. As water levels rise there is the potential to push water on top of the ice through open leads and along the coast where shorefast ice is breaking up. Areas around Norton Sound and along the Yukon Delta will be most susceptible as the low moves inland. && .FIRE WEATHER...None. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Coastal Flood Advisory for AKZ211-AKZ212. Winter Storm Warning for AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ209-AKZ210-AKZ211- AKZ213-AKZ217-AKZ218-AKZ219. Winter Weather Advisory for AKZ204-AKZ206-AKZ212-AKZ214-AKZ215- AKZ216-AKZ220-AKZ221-AKZ222. Gale Warning for PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ220-PKZ225. Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ215-PKZ230-PKZ235-PKZ240. && CCC APR 20
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
104 PM AKDT SAT APR 4 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0103 PM SNOW 4 N COLLEGE 64.92N 147.85W
04/04/2020 M1.6 INCH FAIRBANKS NORTH STAAK PUBLIC
SOUTH FOX REPORTING 1.6 INCHES NEW SNOW.
&&
HFL4 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Blizzard conditions were observed at the Gambell AWOS. Visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less at times in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust of 38 kt (44 mph) at the Gambell AWOS.
Blizzard conditions were observed at the Noorvik AWOS. Visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less at times in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust of 44 kt (51 mph) at the Noorvik AWOS.
Blizzard conditions were observed at the St Michael AWOS. Visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less at times in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust of 57 kt (66 mph) at the St Michael AWOS. A house in St. Michael had its roof fly off, also a porch destroyed. In Stebbins, store roof flew off. Water pushed up Unalakleet River and caused minor flooding.
Blizzard conditions were observed at the Cape Romanzof AWOS. Visibility was reduced to one quarter mile or less at times in snow and blowing snow. There was a peak wind gust of 54 kt (62 mph) at the Cape Romanzof AWOS.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, April 2020
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: 875390, 875717, 875719, 876779.