A strong pressure gradient produced low wind chills across the Eastern North Slope on February 7th 2020.
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 pressure gradient produced low wind chills across the Eastern North Slope on February 7th 2020.
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 Feb 6, 4:20 PM AKST, 7 hours 40 minutes earlier.
Northern Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fairbanks AK 420 PM AKST Thu Feb 6 2020 .SYNOPSIS... Highlights: Temperatures in the 30s and 40s below over most of NW Alaska will persist into Fri. A storm over the Eastern Interior will move northeast tonight and leave a weather front draped across the Central and Eastern Interior into Fri. Snow moving across Interior Alaska with this storm will taper off this afternoon with just light snow tonight and Fri along the front. North winds 15 to 25 mph and very cold wind chills over the Brooks Range Passes and West Coast North of the Bering Strait associated with this storm will diminish this evening as the low moves east. Along the West Coast from the Bering Strait south expect north winds 15 to 25 mph and very cold wind chills to persist today through Sat AM. A strong storm move north over the West Coast and Western Interior of Alaska Fri night through Sun is expected to bring significant snow amounts to the Western and Central Interior this weekend, along with blowing snow issues along the West Coast. This storm is also expected to cause weak to moderate chinook winds across the Alaska Range Sat and Sat night. Aloft... The long wave pattern consists of a deep trough over Western Alaska with a ridge over the Alcan Border area. The trough will retrograde over the Bering Sea on Sat, then progress over mainland Alaska Sun and Mon. A series of weak short waves will move northeast across Interior Alaska today through Fri and keep light snow across the Southern and Eastern Interior trough Fri. When the trough retrogrades Sat, southerly flow aloft will increase over the Interior causing chinook conditions across the Alaska Range late Fri and Sat. The progressing long wave next week will bring colder temps to the eastern INterior. Surface... A low pressure trough stretching from Nuiqsut east will weaken Fri AM. Stratus and flurries along this trough will persist through Fri am. West winds 15 to 15 mph south of this trough will weaken Fri am. A weak weather front well north of the Arctic Coast of Alaska will move to Nuiqsut east by 3am Sat and then dissipate. This will bring more stratus, fog and flurries to the Arctic Coast on Fri night and Sat. A 1004 mb low near Fairbanks will persist through Fri then dissipate. An Arctic front that lies from Old Crow to this low then to McGrath will remain stationary through 3pm Fri, then to Arctic Village to Anvik by 3am Sat, then slowly retreat north. Light snow along this front will taper off through Fri night, with another inch or so accumulation. Strong high pressure over NE Russia has a ridge east of the North Slope of Alaska and another ridge south over the Bering Sea. A low near Cold Bay will move east and weaken tonight and Fri. These two features are causing north winds 15 to 25 mph and cold winds chills along the West Coast from the Bering Strait south that will weaken a bit Fri. A strong low will move north into the southeast Bering Sea by 3am Sat, and to the Yukon Delta as a 984 mb low by 3pm Sat, then to near Cape Lisburne by 3pm Sun. An occluded front with this feature will move notrh over SE Alaska by 3am Sat, to the YK Delta to Bettles to Delta Junction by 3pm Sat, and along the Brooks range by 3pm Sun. From Fri night through Sat, expect 1-3 inches of snow and blowing snow along the West Coast with these feature, 6-10 inches of snow over the Western and Central Interior northwest of Tanana, and 6-10 inches of snow over south slopes of the Alaska Range, with south winds gusting to 50 mph through the Alaska Range. The southeast Interior will be under downslope conditions Fri night into Sat night. An Arctic Cold front trailing this strong low will move over the West Coast Sat night, and then move east across the Interior Sun and Sun night. Expect snow to spread east across Northern Alaska with this front with several more inches. && .DISCUSSION... Models initialize well aloft at 12Z and show similar solutions on large scale pattern through Sun, but the ECMF and NAM differ from GFS/Canadian on details of short wave located near Cold Bay on Fri as it moves north over Western Alaska Sat and Sat night. The ECMF and NAM are weaker and faster with this feature than the GFS and Canadian. The ECMF has been more consistent with this feature on Fri night and Sat, and with the NAM now coming in line favor the ECMF and NAM for Fri night into Sat, but with the acknowledgement that there is still above normal uncertainty from Fri night into Sun on track and timing. At 850 MB temperatures range from -6C along the Alaska Range to minus 30C over the North Slope. Temps will drop through Fri over the West Coast with the -30C line dropping south to Nome. Temperatures will warm significantly all areas Fri night and Sat before cooling from the West on Sun. With precip, models have modest agreement through Fri, then the NAM and ECMF have a bit faster northeast movement of precip from Fri night through Sun than the GFS. At this time favor a blend of models for precip location and amounts through 3pm Fri, then a blend of the ECMF and NAM from Fri night into Sun. At the surface at 15Z, models verify well on features over northern Alaska. High pressure over Eastern Russia is verified about 6 mb too weak on models, but this is far west of the Bering Strait so do not expect this to affect Alaska significantly. Models have similar solutions through 3pm Fri. From Fri night into Sun the ECMF and NAM are weaker and faster than the GFS in moving the surface low near Cold Bay north over Western Alaska. At this time favor the NAM and ECMF from Fri night into Sun on surface features. Bottom line is we will use a blend of models through 3pm Fri, then use a blend of the NAM and ECMF for precip, temps and winds from Fri night into Sun. Coastal Hazard Potential Days 3 and 4...None. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Chill Advisory for AKZ204-AKZ207-AKZ209-AKZ210-AKZ211- AKZ212-AKZ213-AKZ214-AKZ215. Winter Weather Advisory for AKZ206-AKZ218-AKZ220-AKZ222. && JB FEB 20
2 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
Low wind chills were observed at the Barter Island AWOS. Winds of 15 mph or greater and cold temperatures produced wind chills of 60 below or colder at the Barter Island AWOS.
Low wind chills were observed at Kuparuk Mesonet. Winds of 15 mph or greater and cold temperatures produced wind chills of 60 below or colder at Kuparuk.
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: 877880, 877877.