The upper Lynn Canal is forecast to get cold and blustery weather as the weekend approaches. KHNS’ Mike Swasey talked with lead meteorologist Wes Adkins from the National Weather Service in Juneau to get the details.

Swasey – Wes what’s going on with the weather in the upper Lynn canal for the week of Christmas? 

Adkins – We’re expecting these blustery winds to kind of continue, expecting these really frigid temperatures to go down even more. You know by Christmas Day, we could see temperatures hovering right around zero and would not be shocked to get some 10 below temperatures out there. So watch out for those wind chills, they’re going to get pretty dicey. So bundle up accordingly.

Swasey – Wait, are you saying zero degrees Fahrenheit and then add the windchill on top of that? Like how low are we going to go?

Adkins – Yes, for the Haines area, and even Skagway I think we’re looking at temperatures like between 10 below and zero or five above. We’re gonna have a lot of outflow winds, these cold northerlies from Canada, we are looking at the possibility of some wind chills to around 30 below zero at times. 

Swasey – How long does it take for frostbite to set in when the wind chill is 30 below zero?

Adkins – On the naked skin you could have frostbite in as little as 30 minutes.

Swasey – So that big snow event that happened Monday into Tuesday kind of caught us off guard. You know, we didn’t have those big weather warning forecasts or anything coming through saying “Hey, big snow event coming in.” In Skagway kind of you know, to the untrained eye, it looks like at least about six inches of snow fell here in town. What’s going to happen as the cold comes through? Is there going to be a warming event before it gets colder? Are we going to deal with a lot of ice? Or is this going to stay cold all the way through?

Adkins – No, it is going to stay (cold) all the way through and probably get colder as we head towards the holiday weekend. As far as the snow that happened on Monday into Tuesday, we were expecting some snow, we did not think it would amount to the four to seven inches that upper Lynn Canal did get. But marginally we were expecting two to four inches. It was very light and fluffy. And so those are the hardest to get right. 

Snow ratio is basically a term that describes how fluffy the snow is, you know, in mathematical terms. Basically, you take the snow and you measure it depth-wise, and then you also melt that snow to find a liquid proportion to it. And then you do some math and you come up with how dense, how wet that snow is. And these snow ratios were up to 25 to one which would have been really really dry and exceptionally fluffy.

Swasey – So that’s that’s the way you look at snow. The way I look at snow is it’s the perfect kind of snow to put in a bowl and then pour real maple syrup all over it. Have you ever tried that?

Adkins – No, I have not. But that sounds like yummy stuff for yeah, especially for the holidays.

Swasey – That’s just a Vermont Christmas tradition right there.

Adkins – Yeah. And just make sure it’s it doesn’t have a yellow component.

Swasey – Okay. Okay. So moving forward into the weekend. You know, we’ve got these temperatures dipping down does that mean we’re not looking at any more precipitation for the next several days?

Adkins – It does look on the whole dry. We could have some flurries before Christmas with a system kind of skirting Southeast Alaska. That would be I guess you could call it Christmas Eve Eve. But then going forward. I mean it’s just gonna be raw and cold and frigid. And probably blustery through upper Lynn Canal. 

Swasey – So we’re gonna get a lot of snowdrifts. 

Adkins – Yes. 

Swasey – When does the cold snap let up?

Adkins – That’s a good question. We have been locked into this cold air for well over a week. And it does look like it’s gonna be here through the end of the year.

Swasey – Oh fun, okay. Hey, how does all of this wind and all of this bluster equate to marine travel in the upper Lynn Canal because I know that we get ferries canceled on a pretty consistent basis, should we be watching out for that this week?

Adkins – That is something to watch out for. I know this is big, you know, there’s some people out traveling from upper Lynn Canal getting to loved ones in Juneau. And for that matter, the rest of the United States. We are expecting a lot of gale force winds through the canal, we’ll have to watch. That could go up to storm force, which would be 50 knots with northerlies and lots of freezing spray. So if you’re a mariner, do take note, but we’re looking for a pretty active northerly pattern through Lynn Canal for the next several days, probably the next week.

Swasey – Okay, so we don’t know how that’s going to impact marine travel, but you’re guessing that it could prevent at least small crafts from wanting to get out on the water.

Adkins – Yes. And if I were anyone depending on ferry service, I would be looking at their website just for any updates. So you never know how those things can impact marine travel.

Swasey – Of course. Alright, Wes Atkins, thank you so much for the time. Happy Solstice to you.

Adkins – Happy Solstice to you and Happy Holidays. 

Swasey – All right take care.

For more details about the forecast visit weather.gov.