Varningar, Puget Peninsula

Special Weather Statement issued May 8 at 12:01PM AKDT by NWS Juneau AK Beginning Wednesday night, an atmospheric river will move into SE AK, bringing with it heavy rain and wind. The atmospheric river is expected to persist through Thursday before then moving east Thursday night and weakening. Conditions now favor the system's greatest impacts focusing slightly further to the east. The rainfall will be aimed mostly at the northern half of the panhandle with the heaviest rainfall expected to be across the NE Gulf Coast, the Glacier Bay area, and through Lynn Canal up into Haines and Skagway. Most stations north of Frederick Sound have a greater than 60 percent chance of over 1 inch with a few from the Icy Strait Corridor northward and along the Outer Gulf Coast having at least a 15 percent chance of exceeding 2 inches between Wednesday night and Thursday night. There is the possibility that some areas near sea level could potentially see rainfall totals approaching 3 inches by the time the system has departed Thursday night through Friday morning. At elevation, rainfall totals could approach 5 inches total in the Coast Mountains. The potential for daily rainfall records to be broken across parts of the Northern half of the panhandle north of Frederick Sound does exist, and river rises are expected, though no flooding is anticipated at this time. Anticipate windy conditions across land-based areas, with gusts up to 35 or 40 kt possible for some locations near sea level, especially for the northern half of the panhandle, along with small craft winds for the inner channels and gale force winds for the outer coastal waters.

Special Weather Statement issued May 7 at 1:13PM AKDT by NWS Juneau AK Beginning Tuesday afternoon, a pair of systems will move into the panhandle, bringing with them windy conditions and heavy rain at times. The first system will arrive Tuesday evening with gusty winds up to 40 to 50 mph to parts of the southern panhandle and outer coast that will last most of the night. Winds increase along the coast after 4pm and spread into the inner channels through evening. Expect the winds to diminish after 3 am Wednesday. Rainfall with this system will be around three quarters of an to one inch. System number two will be arriving late Wed night, and is expected to have more rain then wind. The band of rain is expected to persist through Thursday before then moving east Thursday night and weakening. The rainfall will also be aimed mostly at the northern half of the panhandle with the heaviest rainfall expected to be across the NE Gulf Coast and Glacier Bay area. Most stations have a greater than 60 percent chance of over 1 inches with a few having at least 20 percent chance of exceeding 2 inches north of Frederick Sound. River levels are still currently low from the recent dry weather last month so we are expecting some river rises across the norther panhandle, but no flooding at this time.