Blizzard — Pribilof Islands, Alaska

2013-02-09 · Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Event narrative

As the low moved into southwest mainland Alaska the pressure gradient tightened over the Pribilof Islands as snow and more cold air was entrained into the area. This resulted in around 12 hours of continuous blizzard conditions in St Paul and 6 hours in St George. The peak of the event was on February 9th at 11:53 AM AKST when St Paul reported 1/16 mile visibility in snow and blowing snow with North winds 40 gusting 46 MPH.

Wider weather episode

A low analyzed at 962 mb and over 500 miles south of the Alaska Peninsula the afternoon of February 8th moved northward and over the Alaska Peninsula at 969 MB by the afternoon on February 9th. It then elongated over southwest Alaska and developed a secondary low near Norton Sound the morning of February 10th. In the Gulf of Alaska the front associated with this low was occluding as it moved northward. As this occluded front moved on shore along the North Gulf Coast it brought strong winds through Turnagain Arm and to higher elevations in the Chugach and Kenai Mountains. Transportable snow in Thompson Pass allowed blizzard conditions to develop in the strong winds. As this system moved through the area it caused Winter Storm conditions to develop in multiple zones from the Pribilof Islands to Thompson Pass near Valdez. That is a distance of nearly 900 miles and warnings were in effect at one time or another for almost this entire distance as the storm progressed. The southwest Alaska coast blizzard warnings did not verify due to the short duration of the blowing snow. However there were numerous locations that did receive a short period of white out conditions in the Kuskokwim Delta region.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 434309. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.