High Wind — Aleutian Islands, Alaska

2000-11-16 to 2000-11-18 · Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Wider weather episode

A strong 957 mb low, located near Attu at the western tip of the Aleutian Chain early Thursday, broke into multiple centers as it moved into the south-central Bering Sea early Friday. By late Saturday morning, the complex low contained at least 3 centers, one near Saint Matthew Island, one 180 miles north of Atka and the third 150 miles south southwest of Nunivak Island...with all centers estimated at 976 mbs. Strong southwesterly winds were observed across the Aleutians south of these lows.The front associated with the main low, just east of Shemya early Thursday, continued northeast...in an arc from 60 miles south of Saint Matthew Island to Chignik early Friday and in a weakening arc from the north-central Bering into the Seward Peninsula to just south of Minchumina to the eastern Kenai Peninsula late Friday evening. Pre-frontal winds:Gusted to 71 mph at Atka between 8 and 9 am Thursday. 92 mph gusts were recorded at the Dutch Harbor Spit just after 3 pm Thursday.Southeast winds peaked at 61 mph at Cold Bay just after 7 pm Thursday.Several ship reports south of the Alaska Peninsula reported strong south winds.At the Wasilla Fire Station, easterly wind gusts reached 77 mph just after 5:15 pm Friday.Rain squalls at the Portage Visitor Center accompanied wind gusts up to 66 mph just after 4:30 pm Friday. On the back side of the storm,Shemya gusted to 69 mph just after noon Thursday.The Atka AWOS peaked with gusts of 68 mph from the west between 2 and 3 am Friday, with gusts going under 60 mph by 5 pm the same day.One ship report 100 miles northeast of Amchitka early Friday reported sustained winds of 81 mph.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5161315. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.