A low producing hurricane force wind gusts moved into the southwest corner of the Bering Sea on February 16th. A core of strong south to southeast winds moved over the western Aleutians, with gusts to 75 mph recorded at multiple times during the day on 2/16 at the Shemya Airforce Base.
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 low producing hurricane force wind gusts moved into the southwest corner of the Bering Sea on February 16th. A core of strong south to southeast winds moved over the western Aleutians, with gusts to 75 mph recorded at multiple times during the day on 2/16 at the Shemya Airforce Base.
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 Feb 16, 4:07 AM AKST, 10 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Southcentral and Southwest Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Anchorage AK 407 AM AKST Fri Feb 16 2024 .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA (Days 1 through 3)... A strong blocking ridge remains over the Yukon Territory/British Columbia border along with a negatively tilted trough from the eastern Bering southeast into the North Pacific. This has lead to a stationary front just south of Kodiak Island this morning along with southeasterly winds aloft. With the exception of Kodiak and the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, the vast majority of Southcentral remains dry and clear. With the clear skies, temperatures have cooled a couple more degrees from the previous morning's lows, making today likely the coolest of the days to come for many areas. As we move into Saturday the center of the high will push off to the the southeast as the broad area of low pressure to our south pushes slowly north. For most areas this will bring in some high clouds, which should be enough to warm temperatures again through the weekend by preventing strong radiative cooling. Generally speaking, expect highs by Sunday over inland areas to be 5-10 degrees warmer than those observed today. Along the coast, light upslope flow will lead to some light rain for the Western Prince William Sound by Saturday morning. Given the warm conditions from the ridging and strong inversion in place, snow levels will be around 1500 ft. The upper level features associated with the front are very weak, so rain should remain very light and near the immediate coast until Sunday. However, by this time there is considerable model spread in how southerly shortwaves will interact with the retreating high over Southeast. Typically models break down the ridge too quickly, so conditions will likely stay on the drier side till early next week. && .SHORT TERM FORECAST SOUTHWEST ALASKA/BERING SEA/ALEUTIANS (Days 1 through 3)... An active and unsettled pattern over the Bering Sea region and Southwest Alaska looks to continue through the weekend. A strong ridge remains firmly in place over Yukon, Canada and extends westward through the Gulf of Alaska. A deep trough remains firmly in place over the Bering Sea region. This combination is allowing for Pacific moisture to get steered northwestward over the Alaska Peninsula (AKPEN) and mainland Southwest. The combination of this moisture falling into a cold atmosphere and gusty northwesterly winds is causing wintry conditions over portions of the Kuskokwim Delta Coast and Alaska Peninsula. Meanwhile, a storm force Pacific low moving into the western Bering Sea this weekend and remaining mostly stationary in the western Bering through Sunday. This system makes very little progression eastward due the strong ridge. The western Aleutians could encounter a brief period of gusty winds and possibly snow or a rain/snow mix. && .LONG TERM FORECAST (Days 4 through 7: Monday through Thursday)... The upper level Canadian ridge extending over Mainland Alaska slowly edges into the Canadian Provinces through Thursday. The Bering low loops around the Central Bering, with several significant shortwaves sliding along the Southern periphery through the end of the forecast period. Forecast confidence is overall good as models are well clustered and remain compatible into the end of the week. However, it becomes chaotically uncertain locally as the shortwaves along the Southern portions brings periods of active precipitation and gusty winds. One shortwave over the Western Aleutians and Bering brings areas of gale force winds over the Western and Central Aleutians, diminishing a bit as it moves into part of the Eastern Aleutians. Afterward, it helps develop a more extensive trough South of the Eastern Aleutians into the North Pacific by Wednesday. This trough continues to push into the Gulf of Alaska through Thursday. Precipitation along the Aleutians, Alaska Peninsula and Southwest Alaska starts as snow and becomes mixed rain and snow on the Bering side and all rain along the Pacific side through Wednesday. Another well developed low approaches the Western Aleutians for Wednesday, winds increasing to gale force over the Western and Central Aleutians and locally heavy precipitation in the West through Thursday. The Bering shortwaves that continue into the Gulf of Alaska drive onshore winds all along the Western side of the Mainland ridge. Surface moisture increases all along the Southern Coasts from the bottom of the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island into Cook Inlet, and from the bottom of the Kenai Peninsula to the Canadian Border. Coastal locations will see rain with the higher amounts from Prince William Sound East as somewhat warmer than normal temperatures continue to pump into the Interior through the forecast period. Gusty gap winds moves across Kodiak Island and Kenai Peninsula Tuesday, with areas of gale force winds East of Kodiak Island Wednesday into Thursday. Kutz && .AVIATION... PANC...VFR conditions and light northerly winds will persist through the TAF period. Light winds out of the north to persist for much of the forecast period. Periods of LLWS possible early this morning. &&
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Shemya weather observation site recorded wind gusts to 75 mph multiple times throughout the day on February 16th, mostly between 12 PM and 3:30 PM AKST. A second round of stronger gusts up to 75 mph also moved through between 8:30 and 9 PM AKST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, February 2024
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: 1163415.