A strong low pressure center near the Alaska Peninsula combined with building high pressure over the Arctic Ocean to produce strong winds from the northeast. At times blizzard and near blizzard conditions resulted as the winds pick up loose snow from the surface of the sea ice.
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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 AFG wrote it up.
A strong low pressure center near the Alaska Peninsula combined with building high pressure over the Arctic Ocean to produce strong winds from the northeast. At times blizzard and near blizzard conditions resulted as the winds pick up loose snow from the surface of the sea ice.
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 Jan 5, 1:05 PM AKST, 7 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Northern Alaska Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Fairbanks AK
105 PM AKST Sun Jan 5 2025
.SYNOPSIS...
Active weather is making a comeback as a series of low pressure
systems brings a series of fronts across the Alaska Range,
bringing anomalous warm temperatures, snow, and strong winds.
Much of the Interior will see temperatures 20 to 30 degrees above
normal starting Monday morning and persisting through the week.
Strong northerly winds will continue from Point Hope through the
Bering Strait and to St. Lawrence Island, we are expecting gusts
up to 70 mph through tomorrow afternoon. The Alaska Range passes
will see southerly gap winds as the fronts come across the Range.
Isabell pass will see the strongest of the gap winds.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Key Messages:
Central and Eastern Interior...
- High temperatures will begin to rise through the week.
- The Fairbanks area will see temperatures in the upper teens to
20s above. There is a slight chance to see 30 above, however confidence
on that is low.
- The Alaska Range will be the warmest spot with temps near
freezing Monday and Tuesday. They will begin to cool down into
the mid 20s, and remain there through the weekend.
- The Upper Tanana Valley and the Yukon Flats will be near 0
Monday, and then slightly warm up to the single digits through
the week.
- A lingering Tanana Valley Jet will persist into Tuesday with
gusts of 40 to 50 mph. The strongest winds will be tonight
through Monday night.
- Light snow showers are beginning to show up on radar in the
Yukon Flats and White Mountains. Snow showers will continue
through much of the Eastern Interior as a series of fronts
comes across the Alaska Range.
- Heavier snowfall will occur in Isabell Pass, and a corridor
from Coldfoot to Allakaket where we could see 7" to 9" of snow
by Wednesday afternoon.
- The Fairbanks area could see up to an inch of snow. With light
snow showers beginning tomorrow afternoon.
- Blizzard Conditions on the southern portions of the Alaska Range
passes are possible as winds will be gusting up to 60 mph, and
have falling snow.
- Visibilities could be reduced to 1/4 mile or less at times
during the heaviest snowfall.
North Slope and Brooks Range...
- Northeasterly winds will strengthen slightly tonight with winds
up to 25 mph. These winds will slightly taper off tomorrow
around midday, then reinvigorate Wednesday morning to around 35
mph.
- Point Hope and the Western Brooks Range will see strong
northeasterly winds start overnight tonight and last until
Tuesday at midnight. These winds could gust up to 70 mph at
Point Hope and 60 mph in the Western Brooks Range.
- The Beaufort Sea Coastline and the Arctic Plains could see 1" to
3" of snow starting around Monday at 7PM. The Brooks Range
passes is expecting 3" to 5" of snow through Wednesday.
- Portions of Atigun Pass could see some blowing snow as there
are north winds of around 20 to 30 mph expected with the
falling snow. Visibilities should remain above 1/2 mile.
West Coast and Western Interior...
- Temperatures will warm above normal, with the southern portion
of the Seward Peninsula and the Yukon River Valley reaching into
the low 20s by Tuesday. This warm trend will persist through
Friday.
- The Norton Sound coastline will see northeasterly wind gusts of
30 to 40 mph through Monday night. There will be strong
northerly winds from Point Hope and through the Bering Strait to
St. Lawrence Island, with gusts up to 70 mph. These winds will
continue through Tuesday Evening. The winds at Diomede to St.
Lawrence Island will weaken, but remain gusty the weekend with
gusts up 45 mph.
- Snowfall will begin tonight from the Y-K Delta to the Kobuk
Valley. Accumulations will be around 1" to 2" tonight. Heavier
snowfall will start around 9PM Monday and last until Wednesday.
The Y-K Delta and eastern Seward Peninsula should expect 2" to
4" of snow while the Kobuk Valley could see up to 7".
Analysis and Forecast Confidence...
A 549 decameter high is centered roughly 250 miles west of
Wrangel Island. This will begin to move west towards the
Verkhoyansk Range in Eastern Russia, and then get absorbed into
the longwave pattern as it weakens into the weekend. A broad area
of low pressure of around 505 decameters will be in the southern
Bering Sea for much of the foreseeable future. Much of the
uncertainty in the forecast will be associated with this feature,
as we move into day 4 and on. The models are not having a good
grasp on the continual development and track of surface lows at
the base of the 500 mb trough.
At the surface a 980 mb is beginning to close off in the northern
Gulf of Alaska. This will bring a warm front across the Alaska
Range that will bring snow potential to the southern portions of
the Range, and to the interior parts of the state. Southerly
chinook flow will develop off of this low, and persist through the
week as a 960 mb low develops and then moves onshore in the Kenai
Peninsula. This low will tighten the surface gradient
substantially by Monday afternoon in the Bering Strait causing our
strong northerly winds. This feature will also bring anomalous
warm temperatures and heavy snowfall potential in the southern
portions of the Alaska Range passes and the Kobuk Valley.
Temperatures through much of the interior will see anomalies of
20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal. The ECMWF ensemble is showing
anomalies of 1.5 to 2 sigma at 850 mb throughout much of the
Eastern Interior.
Extended Forecast Days 4-7...
General low pressure will continue over the Southern Bering.
Models begin to disagree on the speed and location of lows that
will be ejected north through Bristol Bay and into the Y-K Delta.
The GFS remains a much more robust solution with a 960mb low in
Bristol Bay Friday night. The ECMWF is roughly a day behind that
solution with the low coming through Bristol Bay on Saturday
night. The GFS and ECMWF are showing areas of heavy precipitation
along the Y-K Delta sometime this weekend. The GFS takes a more
westerly path, and will bring heavy precipitation to the Seward
Peninsula. Meanwhile, the ECMWF takes the heaviest precipitation
through the Middle Yukon River Valley and into the Kobuk Valley.
The models are not handling our pattern well, so confidence on
exact timing and snowfall amounts are low. However, there are
signals for heavy precipitation from the Seward Peninsula to the
Kobuk Valley.
Coastal Hazard Potential Days 3 and 4...None.
&&
.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AK...High Wind Warning for AKZ801.
Wind Advisory for AKZ849.
High Wind Watch for AKZ849.
Winter Storm Watch for AKZ848-850.
High Wind Warning for AKZ820.
High Wind Warning for AKZ827.
Winter Weather Advisory for AKZ834.
Wind Advisory for AKZ837.
PK...Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ801>803-850-853.
Gale Warning for PKZ804-805-852.
Gale Warning for PKZ806-856.
Gale Warning for PKZ807.
Gale Warning for PKZ810.
Gale Warning for PKZ811-857.
Brisk Wind Advisory for PKZ815-861.
Gale Warning for PKZ816.
Gale Warning for PKZ817.
Gale Warning for PKZ851-854.
Heavy Freezing Spray Warning for PKZ851.
&&
DENNISThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong northeast winds blowing along the northwest arctic coastline produced very strong winds with gusts as high as 62 mph at Point Hope.
Strong north/northeast winds originated over the southeastern Chukchi Sea and continued southwards through the Bering strait. The strong winds impacted the northern coast of St Lawrence Island throughout the day with winds consistently gusting over 60 mph throughout the day.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, January 2025
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: 1236662, 1236637.