Heavy rainfall observed on December 20,2022 prompted a flood warning for Unalaska, a city along the Aleutian Chain, where 3-4 inches of rainfall led their Public Safety to issue a precautionary Cat 2 travel advisory (only drive when necessary; Cat 3 closes travel). About a 1 mile stretch of Ballyhoo Road was closed due to flooding and debris on the roadway.
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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.
Heavy rainfall observed on December 20,2022 prompted a flood warning for Unalaska, a city along the Aleutian Chain, where 3-4 inches of rainfall led their Public Safety to issue a precautionary Cat 2 travel advisory (only drive when necessary; Cat 3 closes travel). About a 1 mile stretch of Ballyhoo Road was closed due to flooding and debris on the roadway. Manholes were displaced to allow for better drainage.
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 Dec 19, 4:36 PM AKST, 9 hours 18 minutes earlier.
Southcentral and Southwest Alaska Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED National Weather Service Anchorage AK 436 PM AKST Mon Dec 19 2022 .ANALYSIS AND UPPER LEVELS... The omega block pattern remains in place over the northern and eastern Bering Sea into the Arctic. Over Southern mainland Alaska, this pattern is bringing in northerly flow aloft and mostly clear skies. There is once again some fog and stratus over northern Cook Inlet and the northern Kenai Peninsula. The cold air outflow out of the eastern Kenai Peninsula has helped to spin up a surface low in the northern Gulf of Alaska. This low is pushing clouds into the Prince William SOund area snow showers are probably in the areas near Cordova, but with the Middleton Island radar still not working, it is hard to tell the extent of the snow showers. This low is also pushing some mid-level clouds over the Kenai and Chugach Mountains. && .MODEL DISCUSSION... Model agreement remains good on the synoptic scale upper level pattern the next few days, but even by the weekend there is a significant breakdown over the Bering Sea region. There will be a series of surface lows that develop in the north Pacific and ride the nearly stationary front that will stretch from the Alaska Peninsula to the northern Kamchatka Peninsula during the mid- to-l;ate week period. By late Wednesday, the forecast confidence rally starts to diminish especially for the Pribilof Islands due to the uncertainty on the low tracks and strength. In the northern Gulf of Alaska, models are in a little bit better agreement today with the anticipated behavior of the surface low that is currently in the vicinity of Middleton Island. While differences remain, they are also all now detecting the weak 500 mb low in the interior which will sink southward over the surface low and infuse it with a little more strength in the coming days. && .AVIATION... PANC...Periods of fog will continue to haunt the airport through tomorrow morning. When the fog is not around, VFR conditions and light winds will occur. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA (Days 1 through 3: Tonight through Thursday)... High pressure is retreating northward and into the northern Bering this evening. Dry and cooler northerly flow at the surface has crept into all of Southcentral with predominantly clear skies for all but far eastern portions of the Copper River Basin. The development of fog during the overnight hours Sunday night was a nuisance for the morning commute across the Anchorage Bowl and even a bit of light snow was spotted on the west side of town due to precipitating low stratus clouds. For tonight and into Tuesday morning fog redevelopment will again be possible. On satellite, a surface low over the northern Gulf and just south of Prince William Sound is meandering further west, which should bring increasing cloud cover across the Gulf coast along with increasing snow chances as southerly flow pushes Gulf moisture into the coast. Snow amounts will be negligible from Cordova up into Valdez. A better chance for snowfall accumulations will exist over the eastern Kenai Peninsula mountains. Latest models have trended snow amounts down for the lower elevations, but Whittier could see a few or more inches Wednesday into Wednesday night. Otherwise, precipitation chances will remain low for inland portions of Southcentral. A front is forecast to move into Kodiak Island Wednesday into Thursday, which will see a potential mix of rain and snow through Thursday. Otherwise, Southcentral will remain cold and a new shot of cold air may begin to spread into Southcentral by the end of the week. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHWEST ALASKA (Days 1 through 3: This afternoon through Thursday afternoon)... Quiet, clear, and cold weather continues to be the status-quo for much of Southwest Alaska as the ridge of high pressure on the western coast has been slow to relent. However, the ridge does appear to weaken and move slightly westward during the day on Tuesday and this paves the way for an upper trough to move westward from the interior of the state towards interior portions of Southwest. This will pave the way for cold air advection from the northeast and will provide for a very cold day for Tuesday as highs will only reach the single digits for most of Bristol Bay and the Kuskokwim Delta. Interior areas of Bristol Bay and the interior portions of the Kuskokwim Valley will only reach the mid negative teens to low negative single digits for day-time highs. The only exception to the norm is the southern Alaska Peninsula where warmer southerly to southeasterly flow resides and continued chances of upslope rain showers. A "warming" trend comes on Wednesday when flow switches to southeasterly aloft and a frontal system approaches the coast from the Bering Sea potentially late Wednesday night into the day on Thursday. However, details still need to be ironed out as far as timing and precipitation threats are concerned with the system. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS (Days 1 through 3: Today through Thursday morning)... The active weather pattern out in the Bering Sea, for the Aleutian Chain, and the Pribilof Islands will continue through the short-term. An upper level low near Kamchatka continues to be the dominant player in the weather scheme for the area. Multiple shortwaves from this low continued to be ejected eastward towards the Bering and Aleutian Chain. The pressure gradient between the frontal zone in the Bering and higher pressure in mainland Alaska, have created a belt of southeasterly gales through the central Bering roughly from outside of Dutch Harbor, through the Pribilofs, to west of Saint Matthew Island. Areas of storm-force winds are possible Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday night in the central to northwestern Bering and extend down into the Pribilofs very early Wednesday morning through mid morning. There is still some uncertainty in exactly where surface lows will spin up and deepen and the eventual tracks they may take, due to so many moving parts (shortwaves) in the atmosphere, especially during Wednesday evening and on Thursday. While the dominant precipitation type is rain, there is the chance that the central to western Aleutians and Pribilofs to see some rain/snow mix at times as colder air works in to the various systems. Pay attention to the latest forecast updates as features hopefully become better resolved with time. .LONG TERM FORECAST (Days 4 through 7: Friday through Monday)... Model consensus beyond day 3 breaks down. The general synoptic patterns resolve reasonably, but the position and phasing of the systems differ and will likely impact the forecast outcome. Strong easterly winds Thursday, spanning from the Gulf through the Alaska Peninsula to the Bering should begin to diminish for Friday when a surface low and an accompanying front sets up in the Gulf. This front should bring plenty of moisture. Many areas could be cold enough for snow down to the coast and Kodiak Island. Increased surface pressure gradient with the incoming low, could enhance gap winds through the Matanuska Valley and other northeast and north to south terrain gaps. An upper trough over northern Canada and Alaska will drop south through mainland Alaska and elongates as it reaches Southcentral. This appears to form a closed off circulation that moves west into the southern Bering Sea Saturday and potentially phase with a low just south of the Aleutian chain. A broad area of low pressure near the Aleutians is expected to continue, with clusters of pressure minimal that would continue to bring nuisance activity from weak low systems that phase and interact with one another. The initial entrance of a low in the Gulf towards the end of the week however, could be the time the blocked ridge breaks down enough for active weather to return to northern Gulf. Come Sunday night through Monday night, another train of back to back lows from the Pacific could move into the Gulf. && .AFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PUBLIC...NONE. MARINE...Storm Warning 179 185. Gale Warning 119 130 139 155 160 165 170-172 180 181. Heavy Freezing Spray Warning 139 160 180 181 185. FIRE WEATHER...NONE. && SYNOPSIS AND MODEL DISCUSSION...EZ SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA...BL SOUTHWEST ALASKA/BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS...DN LONG TERM...VR
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Unalaska experienced multiple mudslides and flooding over non-primary roadways, including Ballyhoo Road where road access was restricted. Mudslides along roadways did require fire department response.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, December 2022
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: 1093144.