A weather front brought significant snow to the eastern Alaska Range.
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 weather front brought significant snow to the eastern Alaska Range.
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 16, 3:28 PM AKST, 12 hours 32 minutes earlier.
Northern Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fairbanks AK 328 PM AKST Wed Feb 16 2022 .SYNOPSIS... An active pattern is expected for the southern Interior through the end of the work week with a couple rounds of snow moving through the area, primarily to the south of the Yukon River. Very cold temperatures are anticipated for tonight for the North Slope as well as the Northern Interior (mainly to the north of the Yukon River). && .DISCUSSION... Upper Levels and Analysis... Aloft, at 500 mb, zonal flow is in place over much of the forecast area today. A shortwave trough that is currently in place over the lower Yukon Valley will continue to push to the east tonight as a second trough moves across the north slope. The flow aloft over the Interior will become more southwesterly for Thursday and Friday as a trough strengthens over the northern Bering Sea and the Southern Chukchi Sea. Model Discussion... The models have some minor difference with the current active weather situation over the Interior. We stayed away from the GFS because it was a bit of an outlier in terms of the placement of the precipitation (it was a bit too far to the north). We utilized high resolution guidance for our QPF forecast today, which had the effect of cutting down on snowfall totals to some degree from the inherited forecast grids. North Slope and Brooks Range... Very cold wind chill values along with blowing snow are the main concern in the short term. This is due to an Arctic trough that has brought increased westerly winds to the Beaufort Sea Coast today. The breezy westerly winds will continue tonight before diminishing tomorrow. Wind chill values as cold as -60 are possible along the Beaufort Sea Coast into Thursday. Otherwise, cold temperatures will remain in place over the area. Central and Eastern Interior... Snowfall will continue this evening, mainly to the south of Fairbanks. A short reprieve Thursday followed by another round of snow that moves in Thursday night into Friday, bringing more accumulations in the 3-6" range, with amounts up to 12" along the southern slopes of the Alaska Range. This system will also bring areas of blowing snow over the summits north of Fairbanks along the Dalton, Elliot, and Steese Highways, reducing visibilities to one half mile or less at times. West Coast and Western Interior... Along the capes and in Norton Sound, the story will continue to be strong northeast offshore winds, which will keep wind chills into the -45 to -50 F range well into Friday. The system that brought snow to the Yukon Valley today will gradually taper off this evening. A short break then another round of snow comes late tonight and into Thursday with an additional 2-6" possible as far north as the Middle Yukon Valley and eastern Norton Sound, with amounts approaching 8" around McGrath. Coastal Hazard Potential Days 3 and 4...None. Extended Forecast for Days 4 through 7... There is potential for another snowstorm to move from west to east across the area early next week. The GFS brings this system through much faster than the other operational models. We will have to continue to monitor this system. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Chill Advisory for AKZ207-AKZ212-AKZ213. Winter Storm Warning for AKZ226. Wind Chill Warning for AKZ203-AKZ204. Winter Weather Advisory for AKZ214-AKZ215-AKZ216-AKZ221-AKZ222- AKZ223-AKZ224-AKZ227. Gale Warning for PKZ200-PKZ210. Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ220-PKZ240-PKZ245. && FEB 22
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Trims DOT Camp reports just 12-24 inches of snow south of the camp along the Richardson Highway in a little over 24 hours. This caused the Richardson Highway to be closed for several hours.
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, February 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: 1014115.