A strong area of low pressure in the Bering Sea brought blizzard conditions to parts of Western Alaska.
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 area of low pressure in the Bering Sea brought blizzard conditions to parts of Western Alaska.
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 20, 4:54 PM AKST, 7 hours 59 minutes earlier.
Northern Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fairbanks AK 454 PM AKST Sun Feb 20 2022 .SYNOPSIS... Northern Alaska is now entering a warmer and active weather pattern. Warm southwest flow is now pushing a mix of moderate to heavy snow, freezing rain and sleet over the West Coast and Western Interior today into tonight, with snow and warmer conditions spreading to the Eastern Interior and North Slope on Mon and Tue. Wed will see another round of warm, wet and windy conditions along the West Coast and Western Interior while the North Slope and Eastern Interior clear out and remain much warmer than normal. Very cold winds chills over the North Slope will become less severe Mon as temperatures rise. Blizzard and near blizzard conditions over the Seward Peninsula will spread north tonight. Mixed precipitation, brief blizzard conditions, light ice accumulation, and 4-6 inches area expected over the area from the Seward Pen south and over the Western Interior. Snow will spread north and east over NW Alaska and the Central Interior on Mon, with light snow over the North Slope and Interior on Mon night and Tue. Expect 4-6 inches of snow over the West Coast and Western Interior by Mon night, with 3-6 inches of snow over the Eastern Interior Mon night and Tue with the heaviest amounts over the White Mountains and Denali areas. Just light snow over the North Slope. Expect strong south winds and blowing snow through Brooks Range passes through Mon. Strong south winds possible through Alaska Range passes Mon night. Could see significant Winter Weather with mixed preciptiation along the West Coast and Western Interior Wed. Aloft... The long wave pattern consists of a strong ridge over the Eastern Pacific and Western N America with a deep trough over the Bering and NW Pacific. A strong short wave now over Bristol Bay will move north over the West Coast and Western Interior tonight and to the North Slope and Central Interior on Mon, and along the ALCAN Border Mon night. A strong southwest flow of warm and moist air follows this trough NE across Alaska. A series of short wave troughs will continue to move north over Alaska in this pattern through next weekend. This will cause Northern Alaska to be much warmer and wetter than normal from Mon through next weekend, with the Eastern Interior having periods of drier chinook conditions. Surface... Strong 1045 mb high pressure north of the Arctic Coast of Alaska will move east over the Beaufort Sea tonight build south over NW Canada tonight and Mon, then weaken on Tue. This will cause east winds 15-25 mph along the Arctic Coast tonight and continue through Mon. This will also cause east winds at Delta Junction and Eagle to develop tonight and continue into Mon night. Also expect this to cause southerly gap flow winds through Alaska Range passes to increase to 30 mph tonight and to 50 mph on Mon night. Since flow aloft remains SW over the Alaska Range, do not expect warning level winds at this time. A strong low in the southwest Bering Sea will move to 100 NM west of St Matthew Is as a 982 mb low by 3pm Mon, and to 300 NM northwest of Cape Lisburne as a 993 mb low by 3pm Tue. An occluded front that stretches from the low to Bristol Bay, with a warm from St Matthew Is to Anvik. The occluded front will move to the Bering Strait to McGrath by 3am Mon with a warm front from McGrath south, then to Point Lay to Ambler to Mcgrath by 3pm Mon, to Deadhorse to a 1007 mb low near McGrath by 3am Tue, and to north of the Arctic Coast to Inuvik to a 2020 mb low near Delta Junction by 3pm Tue. Expect snow ahead of this front with mixed snow and freezing rain along and south of the front this evening, with precipitation changing to all snow late tonight as the front occludes. Areas of freezing rain will be from the Seward Pen to McGrath south tonight and leave a light glaze of ice. A moderately heavy area of snow will moves NE across Interior AK Mon night and Tue near the frontal Wave low. May need to issue Snow advisories for the Central Interior Mon night into Tue tracking along this low. Expect Blizzard conditions along the Seward Pen to spread north to Point Hope tonight and continue into Mon, then diminish south of the Brooks Range Mon PM. Another strong storm will move north over the Bering Sea on Wed bringing snow and a chance of freezing rain to the West Coast and Western Interior on Wed. These may require more warnings. && .DISCUSSION... At 12Z, models initialize well aloft. Models show similar solutions aloft through 3am Tue, then the GFS is slower than other models in the eastward progression of short waves over the Interior and in the following ridge building over Northern AK on Tue and Wed. The ECMWF, NAM and Canadian models all maintain similar solutions aloft into Wed. Favor a blend of the NAM/ECMWF and Canadian aloft through Wed. Beyond Wed models show similar long wave patterns through next weekend, with a broad ridge over the Eastern Pacific and Western N America with a deep trough over the Bering and NW Pacific with a series of short wave troughs moving north over Alaska in the pattern. This will cause Northern Alaska to be much warmer and wetter than normal from the second half of the week, with the Eastern Interior having periods of drier chinook conditions. 850 mb temperatures rise above freezing over SW Alaska this afternoon, and spread to the Seward Peninsula to McGrath and Western Alaska Range Areas by midnight. Expect mixed precip south along and south of this freezing long this evening into early Mon. Above freezing temps at 850 mb return to SW Alaska Tue night, and across most of the Interior south of the Yukon River and the West Coast south of Kotzebue on Wed. This will bring the possibility of mixed precip to those areas on Wed. We favor the ECMWF, NAM and Canadian for 850 mb Temps since the GFS is out of phase from Tue on. For precipitation models show similar pattern through 3am Tue, then differ some on timing. Will use a blend of the GFS/NAM and ECMWF precip for location and amounts through 3am Tue, then a blend of the ECMWF and NAM for Tue into Wed. At the surface at 18Z, models verify well on features but all are 4-6 mb too weak on the high north of the Arctic Coast. Models show similar surface patterns through 3pm Tue, then prefer the NAM and ECMWF at surface for Tue and Wed as they maintain a deeper and slower moving low over NW AK than the GFS does. Will adjust up winds along the Arctic coast 3-5 kt today and today to account for the stronger high to the north than what models indicate Bottom line for models is will use a blend of models through 3am Tue for temps, precip, clouds, then use a blend of the NAM/ECMWF and Canadian for temps precip and clouds for Tue into Wed. For surface fields and winds will use a blend of the NAM/ECMWF and Canadian but bump up winds 3-5kt above models along the Arctic Coast through tonight. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Chill Advisory for AKZ201-AKZ202-AKZ203-AKZ204. Winter Storm Warning for AKZ211. Blizzard Warning for AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ209-AKZ213. Winter Weather Advisory for AKZ206-AKZ210-AKZ212-AKZ214-AKZ215- AKZ216-AKZ217-AKZ219-AKZ227. Small Craft Advisory for PKZ235-PKZ240-PKZ245. Gale Warning for PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225. && JB FEB 22
4 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Kotzebue reported wind gusts as high as 55mph with consistent visibility of less than one quarter mile.
Tin City reported wind gusts as high 58 mph with visibly less than one quarter miles for over three hours.
Kivalina reported gusts as high as 41 mph with visibility less than one quarter mile for over three hours.
Noatak reported gusts as high as 45 mph with visibility less than one quarter mile for over three 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: 1014117, 1014118, 1014196, 1014120.