Alaska rip currents and high surf

Are rip current and surf records common in Alaska?

Alaska averages about 2.3 rip current and surf records a year since 2000, 17th of 34 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2017 (7). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Alaska records 0.6 rip current and surf records since 1996, 32nd of 34 states and territories by that measure.

1. 1. Hawaii 14482
2. 2. New Jersey 647
3. 3. Puerto Rico 640
4. 4. Delaware 636
5. 5. Florida 158
6. 6. Rhode Island 97
7. 7. Louisiana 64
8. 8. California 44
9. 9. South Carolina 41
10. 10. North Carolina 37
11. 32. Alaska 0.6

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Alaska have the most rip current and surf records?

Per square mile, Anchorage Municipality leads Alaska: 1 days with a rip current or surf record since 1996, 0.6 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, North Slope Borough has the most surf records (19 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

1. Anchorage Municipality 0.6 (1)
2. Nome Census Area 0.6 (15)
3. Juneau City and Borough 0.4 (1)
4. Kodiak Island Borough 0.3 (2)
5. Kusilvak Census Area 0.3 (5)
6. Aleutians East Borough 0.3 (2)
7. Northwest Arctic Borough 0.3 (9)
8. North Slope Borough 0.2 (19)
9. Hoonah-Angoon Census Area 0.2 (1)
10. Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area 0.0 (3)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is the surf season in Alaska?

53% of its rip current and surf records since 1996 fell in September and October. The busiest month is September (12 records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The costliest rip current and surf records in Alaska

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are rip current and surf records becoming more frequent in Alaska?

Alaska's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent rip current and surf records in Alaska

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for rip current and surf records in Alaska

FEMA has declared 2 disasters in Alaska for rip current and surf, counting its incident type and declarations that name the hazard in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 2 were major disasters, the latest on June 8, 2018.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Next

• Anchorage Municipality: the county's whole recordThe Alaska county with the most rip current and surf records per square mile
• Rip currents and high surf across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in AlaskaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Winter storms in Alaska4,435 records
• High wind and dust storms in Alaska3,842 records
• Floods in Alaska648 records