Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in Alaska
Every extreme cold/wind chill event the National Weather Service has filed in Alaska, year by year, with the most significant episodes. Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.
The most significant on the map
The most significant extreme cold/wind chill episodes in Alaska.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The record
- Events
- 172
- Deaths
- 3
- Injuries
- 0
- Damage
- None recorded
Every year
The most significant
Ranked by deaths, injuries, damage and size together.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 23 to 24, 2000A Napakiak man, Herman Motgin, age 31, died of hypothyermia Friday after he was found next to his snowmachine on the trail between Bethel and Napakiak, a short distance away.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 29, 2000A hypothermia related death was reported near Alakanuk (just north of Bethel). Outside air temperatures were around -25 F. Alcohol may have been a factor.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, December 18 to 23, 2022An Arctic airmass brought well below normal temperatures to Interior Alaska December 18th to the 23rd.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, February 1 to 4, 2000A large low pressure system moved north into the eastern Bering Sea on 01 Feb. A break-off center moved northeast from the Yukon Delta to the Arctic Slope on 02 Feb. A third center moved north from the Pribilofs to the Gulf of Anadyr on 03 Feb.
- Blizzard and Ice Storm in Alaska, January 22 to 25, 2000A storm as deep as 951 millibars early on the 23rd, moved slowly northeast over the Bering Sea, eventually dissipating over Saint Matthew Island on the afternoon of the 25th.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 12 to 15, 2000A strong and complex frontal system over Russia Far East moved across the Bering Sea...Chukotsk Peninsula ...and into the Chukchi Sea on the 13th.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 5 to 8, 2001With High pressure persisting over the Arctic Ocean and Russia Far East, a 956 mb Low in the North Pacific moved north to near Kodiak Island, bringing extreme Wind Chills to parts of northwest Alaska, followed by Blizzard conditions, and then High Winds.Extreme Wind Chills were…
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 1 to 12, 2009The significant cold snap that developed across interior Alaska on December 27th continued through January 12th.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, December 27 to 31, 2008A significant cold snap developed across interior Alaska on December 27th and continued into January. A cold upper level low across Siberia moved into northern Alaska on December 26th, and remained in place through the end of the month.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, December 10 to 16, 2021A deep vertically stacked low that made it's way from the Bristol Bay area to the Gulf of Alaska. Across southcentral, a strong front along the leading edge of the system brought moderate to heavy snowfall and areas of mixed precipitation in areas affected by down-sloping winds.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 19 to 22, 2000A storm center as deep as 962 millibars moved slowly northeast from southwest of Kamchatka on the 18th to the southwest Bering Sea on the 20th.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, February 1 to 3, 2012A cold air mass across northern Alaska combined with a strong pressure difference between a 950 mb low in the northern Gulf of Alaska and a ridge of high pressure across eastern Russia to produce strong wind and low wind chills along parts of the west coast of Alaska.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, February 17 to 20, 2000Moderate Low Pressure crossed the Aleutians near Nikolski on the afternoon of Feb 17, reaching the Pribilof island waters on the early morning of Feb 18.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, February 20 to 26, 2000The strong northeast winds which develop over northwest Alaska and the western Arctic of Alaska Feb. 19-21 continued as a small low developed in Kotzebue Sound on the morning of Feb. 22.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 25 to 26, 2008Under an existing cold airmass and high pressure inland over the North Slope, a surface trough moved east across the Arctic Ocean and Arctic Coast on the 25th.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 14 to 18, 2009A strong ridge of high pressure well off the Arctic Coast on the 14th gradually built into the Chukchi Sea by the 17th. The ridge of high pressure produced an unseasonably cold air mass across much of northern Alaska.
- Blizzard and Winter Storm in Alaska, January 28 to 31, 2025A very cold upper level low tracked from the Bering Coastline of Western Alaska into the interior towards the end of the month. This resulted in periods of locally heavy snow and strong winds which brought low visibilities due to blowing snow.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, February 24 to 26, 2001A slowly increasing strong pressure gradient across northern Alaska produced local wind chills, blizzards, and high winds.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 24 to 27, 2001High pressure over the Chukchi Sea and coldweak Low pressure over the Kotzebue area produced cold Wind Chills and Blizzard Conditions over Northwest Alaska, and the Bering Strait..Blizzard conditions occurred at:Zone 207- KivalinaZone 213 - Tin CityWind Chill conditions occured…
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 28 to 30, 2012Zone 206: Temperatures of 29 to 38 below zero combined with a south wind of 15 to 30 mph to produce wind chills as low as 73 below zero at Anaktuvuk Pass. Wind chills of 60 below zero or lower were observed from approximately 1145AKST on the 28th through 0400AKST on the 30th.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 21 to 23, 2012There were two periods when the wind chill at Point Lay was 60 below zero or colder. The first period occurred from 2030AKST on the 21st through 1130AKST on the 22nd.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 7 to 9, 2000An arctic front became established just north of the crest of the Brooks Range on March 7, and interacted with strong high pressure over the arctic basin. This produced over 2 days of high winds and blizzard conditions at Point Lay.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 23 to 25, 2000An area of low surface pressure developed over the eastern Seward Peninsula and Kotzebue sound in the early morning of March 23, while moderate high pressure over the western Chukchi Sea shifted to the east a little.
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, March 11 to 14, 2007Persistent high pressure over the Chukchi Sea with a cold airmass over northern Alaska produced extreme wind chills over portions of the North Slope on the 11th until early on the 14th.|Extreme Wind Chills were reported at:|Zone 203: Deadhorse ASOS -65 F; west winds 15 to 20…
- Extreme Cold in Alaska, January 8 to 9, 2009The combination of a very cold airmass that was established in late December, and a period of strong wind, combined to produce low wind chills in the passes of the Alaska Range and in the Upper Yukon Valley on January 8th and 9th.
More
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill everywhereEvery kind of event in Alaska
Sources
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.