


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Juneau, AK
Issued by NWS Juneau, AK
466 FXAK67 PAJK 172340 AFDAJK Southeast Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Juneau AK 340 PM AKDT Tue Jun 17 2025 .SHORT TERM.../ Through Wednesday night / road area of lower pressure persists and spins up bands of showers into the southern portion of the panhandle. Any light rain tonight limited to south of Icy Strait area I suspect and another band will reinforce the PoPS by morning. Yakutat area may stay in the dry with the easter flow aloft. A ridge building over the west central gulf will drift east Wednesday and start to shut off the precipitation still falling across Southeast Alaska. Warming temperatures start the later half of the week, but more on that in the long range section. .LONG TERM.../Thursday through Monday/... Some easterly rain showers will continue across the panhandle into Thursday evening, associated with both a low in the Gulf to the west of Haida Gwaii and a low over British Columbia. These showers will begin to decrease into Thursday night as a surface ridge approaches the panhandle from the west, pushing the weakening low to the southeast. This ridge, accompanied by an upper level ridge building over the Gulf on Friday, will help to bring drier weather, clearer skies, and some higher temperatures into this weekend. Models showing 850mb temperatures of between 10 and 12 degrees C moving into the area alongside this ridge, which will bring us some warm air advection that will also aid in bringing temperatures up. This warm air advection alongside the surface ridging will bring some areas of the panhandle to over 70 degrees for their highs this weekend, with the highest temperatures looking to be Saturday afternoon and in the southern panhandle. There are some higher (14-15 degrees C) 850mb temperatures moving along the border with British Columbia, though this will have little impact on the panhandle outside of Dyea, which is expected to see highs above 80 for the weekend. Temperatures will also be higher due to the lack of cloud cover during Friday and the weekend, resulting in likely even higher temperatures than the models are showing due to the long sunlight hours and surface heating. Temperatures will then begin to decrease again Sunday into Monday through the majority of the panhandle, with only Hyder looking like it will stay warmer for longer. The higher temperatures in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia alongside their potential for some convective showers later in the week may result in some risk for wildfires, which may bring some haze in to Haines and Skagway. As of now we have put haze in for the majority of the midrange forecast for just Haines and Skagway in anticipation of this. Winds look to stay on the lighter side over the region for the rest of the week into the weekend. However, the pressure gradient in the northern panhandle may tighten as the surface ridge begins to move in while a low remains over Canada to the northeast, which may bring some elevated winds to Lynn Canal on Thursday. Friday into Saturday morning there will be some elevated winds along the southern outer coast and coming out of Chatham Strait and Clarence Strait as the ridge continues to push east while a low remains over British Columbia, bringing some 15 to 25 kt winds as the gradient tightens. These winds are not expected to last however as the ridge continues to push eastward Saturday into Sunday, with winds decreasing to between 10 and 15 kt off the coast Sunday into Monday. && .AVIATION.../Through Wednesday afternoon/ Predominantly VFR conditions throughout the panhandle this Tuesday afternoon. Sea breezes will continue for the northern and central panhandle, though in northern Lynn Canal outflow conditions are strong enough to offset them. A broad low near Haida Gwaii will continue to bring diminishing light showers to the southern panhandle through Tuesday evening along with broken cloud decks between 5000 and 10000 feet. By Wednesday afternoon and evening, convection forming over BC is expected to advect over the central and northern panhandle with potential for MVFR conditions in any heavier showers, along with erratic winds. However no significant LLWS or surface winds are expected during the TAF period. && .MARINE...Outside Waters: Winds for the outer waters 10 to 15 kt generally with a few areas reaching up to 20 kt. Southeast winds for the waters west of Prince of Wales Island and west for the northern central gulf over the top of the ridge along the western gulf. The flow wraps back around to a NE pattern into the central. gulf Seas less than 6 feet near the coast into Wednesday night. Inside Waters:Generally light winds for inner channels with a few areas up to 20-25 kt like Five Finger Light and southern Lynn Canal near the Junction with Icy Strait. Local sea breezes for the northern panhandle, and maybe a less extent tomorrow wind there will be more clouds around. && .AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PUBLIC...None. MARINE...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Bezenek LONG TERM....Contino AVIATION...STJ MARINE...Bezenek Visit us at http://www.weather.gov/Juneau