High Wind — Cook Inlet, Alaska

1999-09-17 to 1999-09-18 · Cook Inlet, Alaska

Wider weather episode

An intense 965 mb low just east of Chignik Friday morning, curved north northwest through Bristol Bay to near Togiak by late Friday night. The low drifted slowly northwest and began to weaken thereafter. Brisk southeast winds were reported along the east and south quadrant of the low.A moderate front, associated with the low, extended from the southeast corner of Bristol Bay to just north of Kodiak late Friday morning. By late Friday night, the front extended in a long arc from the southwest mainland into the Tanana Valley to just east of Yakutat. Brisk east winds preceded the front across the Central North Gulf Coast, the Kenai Peninsula, Prince William Sound and the adjacent offshore waters.In zone 18...Kodiak recorded ASOS adjusted wind gusts of 61 mph at 5:53 pm Friday on the southeast side of the low. Heavy rains were also reported around the Island.Across zone 17...In advance of the front, wind gusts at Middleton Island peaked at an ASOS adjusted 78 mph at 8:15 am Friday, a few hours prior to frontal passage.At Whittier, wind gusts reached 63 mph and caused close to $50,000.00 damage to boats in the harbor, several harbor structures and to vessels tied up in the area but outside of the harbor. A flash flood watch was posted for Seward at 7:30 am Saturday, changed to a watch at 2pm Saturday, then cancelled at 4pm Saturday due to the heavy rains. Brisk north winds prompted a wind advisory in Seward at 11 am Friday. Peak winds Saturday morning between midnight and 1 am reached an ASOS adjusted 56 mph. A post-frontal thunderstorm dumped .5 inches of rain at the Resurrection and Glacier Creeks...in one hour! As reported by the Peninsula Clarion in a front page article, up to 6.5 inches of rain fell from Thursday through Sunday at Grouse Creek, eight miles up the Seward Highway from Seward. Three houses around the Meridian Creek watershed had slight damage from water in crawl spaces . Much damage was averted due to the recent $250,000.00 debris removal from the Resurrection River channel. Other creeks, including Lowell Creek, ran at bankfull. Strong winds were reported in Cordova. Peak winds of 64 mph were recorded at the Boat Harbor at 6:25 am Saturday. An ASOS adjusted 62 mph gust was recorded as the highest wind at the Cordova airport between 10 and 11 am Friday. Wind advisories were posted for Cordova as early as 9:05 pm Thursday. Heavy rains in the area also caused flooding and erosion problems. An overflowing culvert flooded the road along Eyak Lake. Floods were also reported along the Copper River Highway. An inch of water was also reported in the mailbox area of the Post Office.In zone 15...a high wind watch was posted for East Anchorage and Turnagain Arm at 4:30 am Friday, then upgraded to a high wind warning at 10:40 am Friday. Peak winds recorded from a Davis weather system in Bear Valley reached 112 mph on Black Bear Road. Wind gusts ranging from 65 to 99 mph were reported around Turnagain Arm and much of east Anchorage and higher elevations of Eagle River (Skyline Drive at about 1400 ft). A picture of a 'missing' house on Baldy Mountain was shown in Saturday's Anchorage Daily News. Wind gusts from 30 to 50 mph were reported in the Kenai/Soldotna area around Homer and across adjacent areas of Cook Inlet. In zone 13...brisk easterly winds also prompted a wind advisory at 4:30 am Friday. Peak adjusted ASOS/AWOS winds reached 56 mph at both Palmer (10 - 11pm Friday) and Wasilla (3pm - 5 pm Friday).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5719390. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.