A very cold air mass and Arctic high pressure settled into place across Southcentral Alaska between 11/17 and 11/18. An area of low pressure lingered in place over the Gulf of Alaska, resulting in a strong offshore pressure gradient and strong winds out of gaps along the Gulf Coast.
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.
A very cold air mass and Arctic high pressure settled into place across Southcentral Alaska between 11/17 and 11/18. An area of low pressure lingered in place over the Gulf of Alaska, resulting in a strong offshore pressure gradient and strong winds out of gaps along the Gulf Coast. These winds were able to combine with recent transportable snow to produce blizzard conditions along the Richardson Highway in Thompson Pass on 11/18.
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 Nov 17, 4:33 AM AKST, 10 hours 45 minutes earlier.
Southcentral and Southwest Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Anchorage AK 433 AM AKST Fri Nov 17 2023 .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA (Days 1 through 3)... Key Takeaways: 1) Coastal locations along the eastern Chugach such as Cordova and Valdez will continue to see additional snowfall through the morning before tapering off by this evening. 2) The coldest air of the season will arrive on Friday and persist through the weekend. Expect overnight lows around 0 for the Anchorage Bowl and much of the Kenai Peninsula, below 0 for much of the Mat-Su Valley, and below -10 for the Copper River Basin. 3) Strong northerly gap winds will develop along the coast from Kodiak to Seward, Whittier, and Valdez Friday through Sunday. Thompson Pass will see blowing snow, along with the potential for blizzard conditions, beginning early Saturday morning. GOES water vapor imagery shows a broad upper-level trough gradually shifting eastward across much of the mainland. The associated surface trough is now elongated across the Cook Inlet and into the Mat-Su Valley. Radar imagery shows that bands of snow showers have developed across the Cook Inlet and into the Kenai Peninsula. Additional radar returns can be seen on the north side of the Cook Inlet trough, with snow wrapping around the trough and into the Mat-Su Valley. A quick inch or so of additional snowfall can't be ruled out this morning in any stronger bands of snowfall such as one that just went through Kenai. Otherwise, snowfall amounts will generally be light (<1 inch) for much of southcentral. Slightly heavier snow will continue on the downstream side of the mid/upper-level trough across the eastern Chugach and from Valdez east through Cordova. Additional snowfall upwards of 5 inches is expect for these areas, with lower totals closer to sea level. Precipitation will then taper off from west to east today with the exception of the Copper River Basin, as much colder air advects over Southcentral for the weekend. 850mb temps are expected to fall to around -15C by Saturday and to around -20C through Saturday for the Copper River Basin. The building surface ridge will also act to promote cold temperatures, especially overnight in locations that manage to clear out. As mentioned above, the coldest temps of the season are expected. Overnight lows below 0 will occur in many locations such as the Mat-Su Valleys and Copper River Basin. Much of Anchorage will sit within a couple degrees on either side of 0 Fri- Sun nights. Northerly gap winds will also be a concern as the colder air moves in, with strong winds expected from Kodiak City to Seward, Whittier, and Valdez. Winds combined with newly fallen snow will also bring the potential for blizzard conditions for Thompson Pass Saturday before eventually subsiding late Saturday Night into Sunday morning. -Brown / TM && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHWEST/BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS (Days 1 through 3: Today through Sunday night)... Most of the Bering Sea and Southwest are now dominated by relatively weak west to northwest prevailing flow through most of the troposphere. A deep upper trough is now exiting Southwest as it crosses over the Alaska Range into Southcentral, while a shortwave ridge crosses the central/eastern Bering Sea. Mostly weak winds in small craft range or lower are now prevailing across the Bering and along the Aleutian Chain, while gusty northwest winds over Southwest slowly begin to diminish as cold advection weakens and Arctic air slowly settles into place. Nearly the entire region will continue to see fairly benign conditions for about the next day or two. Widespread ocean effect snow showers generated by cold air moving over the comparatively warm sea surface will continue to drift into the Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula, as well as along parts of the Southwest coast at times. This shower activity will be further aggravated as a shortwave trough crosses the Bering from northwest to southeast between this afternoon and Saturday morning, resulting in more widespread snow showers brushing past the Pribilofs, Kuskokwim Delta and Bristol Bay overnight tonight, then into the central/eastern Aleutian Chain on Saturday morning. Otherwise, the main story to tell through Saturday will be the cold temperatures persisting over Southwest. Low temperatures will likely be the coldest early on Saturday, dipping into the single digits above/below zero away from the immediate coastline. Attention from there shifts to the next notable weather maker arriving out in the western Bering Sea later in the weekend. By Saturday night, a deep 940s mb low moving east of Kamchatka will send a very strong front into the western Bering Sea and Aleutians. Sustained winds well into storm force range will move first into Shemya and Attu, then progress east with the front towards the central Bering and out to Adak on Sunday as the core of strongest winds weakens slightly. Gusts to Hurricane force are likely to affect the far western Aleutians and Bering as the front approaches between Saturday night and Sunday, including in Shemya. In addition, winds will ramp back up again over the southwest corner of the Bering late on Sunday as the front's parent low approaches from the south. Make sure to continue to monitor the forecast for updates and possible headlines for this strong wind event as this system draws nearer. AS && .LONG TERM FORECAST (Days 4 through 7: Sunday through Wednesday)... The long term forecast period begins on Sunday with a cold longwave trough over mainland Alaska producing temperatures around 10 degrees below normal and rising temperatures over the Aleutians, Bering Sea and Southwest Alaska as an upper level ridge builds north and east over the Western Bering Sea. Light snow should be diminishing over the Copper River Basin and portions of Prince William Sound, east, as the upper level trough lifts out to the north and east. A drier air mass diving south and east with the cold longwave trough will help to clear out most precipitation for both Southwest and Southcentral through the weekend. The exception will exist over the Bering where isolated to scattered snow showers are forecast with the trough's passage. A deep Kamchatka low then brings a strong front into the Bering Sunday into Monday with potential high winds as the front moves through the Western and Central Aleutians. The front will progress into the eastern Bering by Monday with a rain/snow mix and enhanced southerly winds along the front, from the Eastern Aleutians up into the Chukchi Sea. A low will deepen rapidly in the Northern Pacific and push north into the Western Gulf of Alaska on Tuesday and Wednesday and will likely produce strong winds and heavy precipitation along the entire Gulf of Alaska Coast on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. CC && .AVIATION... PANC...MVFR ceilings are possible at times throughout the day today. Winds should continue on a downward trend through the early morning. There is a slight chance for some snow flurries early this morning but chances decrease significantly by late morning/early afternoon. KM &&
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Anchorage AK
933 AM AKST Fri Nov 17 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0828 PM Snow Butte 61.53N 149.01W
11/16/2023 M3.2 inch Matanuska-Susitna AK Public
&&
KCPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Anchorage AK
935 AM AKST Fri Nov 17 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1239 PM Snow Anchorage Hillside 61.12N 149.71W
11/16/2023 M1.5 inch Anchorage AK Public
Snow total between approximately 10 AM and
noon.
&&
KCPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Anchorage AK
1123 AM AKST Fri Nov 17 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1000 AM Snow Hiland Rd, Eagle River 61.23N 149.44W
11/17/2023 M10.3 inch Anchorage AK Public
Updates the previous report of 7.3 inches
submitted on 11/16 at 9:37 PM.
&&
KCPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Anchorage AK
1126 AM AKST Fri Nov 17 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0937 AM Snow Eagle River 61.31N 149.48W
11/17/2023 M1.8 inch Anchorage AK Public
1.75 inches fell in a brief period of time.
&&
KCPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Anchorage AK
1129 AM AKST Fri Nov 17 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1027 AM Snow Rabbit Creek, Anchorage 61.07N 149.77W
11/17/2023 M0.8 inch Anchorage AK Public
3/4 inches of snow this morning.
&&
KCPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Anchorage AK
1158 AM AKST Fri Nov 17 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 AM Snow Between Sterling and So 60.51N 150.91W
11/17/2023 E5.0 inch Kenai Peninsula AK Public
&&
KC1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
The Alaska Department of Transportation reported that winds overnight (early AM 11/18) gusted between 30 and 45 mph with blizzard conditions at times due to blowing snow near the top of Thompson Pass.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, November 2023
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: 1142432.