Winter has taken hold of the upper Lynn Canal over the last couple of weeks, and Thanksgiving week looks like more of the same. KHNS’ Mike Swasey checked in with federal meteorologist Wes Adkins from the National Weather Service in Juneau on Monday after a winter storm watch was issued for heavy snow later this week.

SwaseyWes, looks like a big winter storm is rolling through. This is a refrain that I’m finding myself saying time and time again these days but another big winter storm is moving through the upper Lynn Canal starting, I guess, Tuesday, can you tell us more about it?

Adkins – Yeah, so we’re looking for more heavy snow potential for late Tuesday night into Thanksgiving morning. Right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty with it as far as the timing of when the heaviest precipitation will ride up into upper Lynn Canal. However, I will say that our confidence for upper Lynn Canal is higher than it is for points south. 

So right now we’re thinking it could be as much as a foot of snow, it could be a little more. Our forecast is six to 16 inches, but this is midweek we’re talking about we’re hoping to fine-tune that as we draw closer to the storm.

Swasey – Okay, is there a way to know what the differences might be between Haines and Skagway? Because over the weekend, there was another winter storm and it looks like they’ve got a couple of feet over in Haines and we’ve just got a few inches here in Skagway. So there’s a big difference.

Adkins – It is well known in our region that Skagway is, I guess you could call it the desert of Southeast. It is the driest spot in the area that we forecast for. I don’t know if we have the differences, but you know, you can count on it being a few inches less for sure.

SwaseyOkay, so this is gonna get started late Tuesday night. Is that right? And then cruise through Thanksgiving morning?

Adkins – We’ll use a football analogy. We’ve got wide goalposts as far as time. The snow could delay until Wednesday morning, but right now we’ve got the winter storm watch out from midnight, Tuesday night into Thanksgiving morning. So it’s looking right now that Wednesday will be the worst of the days. 

SwaseyWhat’s the difference between a watch and a warning?
Adkins – A watch is an event that looks probable, likely, but a warning is it’s going to be certain.

SwaseyOkay, so we’re not 100% sure this is going to happen?

Adkins – We are not 100%? Sure, exactly. 

SwaseyWell let’s say it does impact the upper Lynn Canal. What is that going to do for travel conditions around the area? 

Adkins – You know, it’s going to be pretty dicey conditions on the highways if people are traveling into Canada. For marine travel, because of the dynamics of pushing up really heavy precip in the upper Lynn Canal, you can have really strong southerlies. We’re seeing a lot of fresh cold air from the Yukon coming down the Chilkat Valley and it is producing some really strong wind gusts through Haines, that’s for sure. And some northerlies through Skagway.

SwaseyYeah, we definitely have a north wind blowing my trash can went for a little ride this morning. What are you gonna do? Alright, Wes, thanks so much for helping us figure out how to properly get around Haines and Skagway this week and I appreciate the time.

Adkins – Yeah, okay. Take care.