The combination of a very cold airmass over northern Alaska and the approach of a weather front moving south from the Arctic Ocean resulted in extremely low wind chills. The lowest wind chill readings occurred over the Arctic Coast east of Prudhoe Bay.
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.
The combination of a very cold airmass over northern Alaska and the approach of a weather front moving south from the Arctic Ocean resulted in extremely low wind chills. The lowest wind chill readings occurred over the Arctic Coast east of Prudhoe Bay.
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 Jan 7, 6:24 AM AKST, 5 hours 31 minutes earlier.
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</html>1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds over 15 mph combined with ambient temperatures in the -30's Fahrenheit resulted in wind chill readings from 60 to 70 below zero. The coldest official wind chill reading of -67 F was observed at the Point Thompson Oil field airport.
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, January 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 874418.