Snow showers moved onshore overnight through Saturday morning, some formed into more defined bands with quick accumulations.
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.
Snow showers moved onshore overnight through Saturday morning, some formed into more defined bands with quick accumulations.
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 Feb 21, 2:42 PM AKST, 7 hours 18 minutes earlier.
Southeast Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Juneau AK 242 PM AKST Fri Feb 21 2020 .SHORT TERM.../Through Saturday night/Relatively quiet later Winter short term forecast period that features no watches, warnings, advisories, or gales. Small craft conditions persist on the outside for both winds and high seas. A stiff southerly pressure gradient is maintaining strong winds in Skagway, breezy conditions in Haines and small craft winds over Lynn Canal. Otherwise, not a lot of wind is being observed nor expected in the short term period. Deep layer onshore flow is maintaining shower activity over much of the Panhandle with reports of rain, snow, and a mix across the forecast area. In addition, a cooler low level airmass is advecting across the Gulf. Cooling temperatures overnight tonight and tomorrow will see a shift towards more snow than rain showers. Measurable accumulations are expected in all the major Panhandle towns and cities tonight and tomorrow but should remain below advisory levels. By tomorrow night PoP will diminish over the southern zones, but showers from an inverted trough may produce advisory amounts of snow over Chichagof Island, Baranof Island, and the Juneau area. .LONG TERM.../Sunday through Friday as of 10 pm Thursday/ Small split flow upper level pattern over the panhandle with an upstream trough starts out the long term period on Sun. This is eventually replaced by a ridge by Mon. This pattern for the early part of the long range has not changed much from the previous forecast from yesterday. It is what happens after this point that has seen some changes. Yesterday there was a disagreement between the ECMWF and the GFS (with support from ensembles and wpc) on how an upper ridge over the state will evolve, and what it would mean for the panhandle later in the week. Today, the ECMWF has surrendered to the GFS idea of the upper ridge pinching off into a cut off high over eastern Russia while a strong surface front approaches the Gulf and panhandle from the S mid next week. Forecast confidence for the mid week period has improved as a result with most models favoring the warmer wetter scenario for the mid week period, but timing issues still remain. Overall, the general forecast trends are a cold start to the late weekend and early next week as the westerly flow continues to pump gulf-modified cold air into the panhandle. 850 mb temps will be around -9 to -12C through Mon evening, plenty cold enough for snow for most areas. Some weaker lows and troughs will be moving through the area during this time so some snow accumulation is not out of the question for many areas. The sticking point is how much snow will various areas get. The details or timing and position for the individual lows and troughs is sketchy at best right now so best idea is a few inches with the possibility of higher or lower amounts depending on where showers track and their intensity. Into mid week, the trends become warmer and wetter as a strong front moves in from the south. Guidance is favoring gale force winds along the front as well as temperatures warm enough for rain for most areas. Orientation and timing of the front remain a problem however so forecast confidence is lacking in that area. Favored WPC and NBM for any needed updates today. && .AJK Watches/Warnings/Advisories... PUBLIC...Strong Wind until midnight AKST tonight for AKZ018. MARINE...Small Craft Advisory for PKZ012-013-022-041>043-051>053. && Fritsch/EAL Visit us at http://www.weather.gov/Juneau
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
423 PM AKST FRI FEB 21 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1143 AM HEAVY SNOW WHITE PASS 59.63N 135.16W
02/21/2020 E9.0 INCH AK DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
SKAGWAY DOT REPORTED WHITE OUT CONDITIONS CAUSED THE
KLONDIKE HWY TO BE CLOSED 1 PM THURSDAY TO NOON FRIDAY. 6
TO 9 INCHES OF SNOW FELL BETWEEN 8 MILE AND THE BORDER.
&&
NAFPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU AK
522 PM AKST FRI FEB 21 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW HAINES CUSTOMS 59.45N 136.36W
02/21/2020 M9.0 INCH AK CO-OP OBSERVER
HAINES CUSTOMS REPORTED HEAVY SNOW BEGAN ABOUT 1 PM ON
THURSDAY WITH 9 INCHES FALLING BY THEIR 7 AM REPORT.
&&
NAF1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Report from the public of 7 inches falling in Sitka since 2 AM. Report was received at 930 AM via social media. Other parts of Sitka saw 2 to 4 inches.
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, February 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: 869689.