Strong weather systems continue to move across Southeast Alaska this week. On Sunday, Skagway and Haines both lost power for approximately 45 minutes, though no major damage was reported. KHNS’ Mike Swasey talked with Meteorologist Pete Boyd from The National Weather Service in Juneau on Monday to get the latest forecast.

Swasey – Pete, both Skagway, and Haines lost power on Sunday night for a stretch as the wind and rain got pretty intense. How is the forecast looking for this week?

Boyd – Well what you got was the first of about three systems that we expect to move through the panhandle in Southeast Alaska through the week. Already you are talking about the strong winds that we had up in Skagway and Haines and it dumped about a quarter up to over half an inch of rain for those locations. 

The next system is going to be producing another probably upwards of a quarter to possibly half an inch of rain. It’s a little more steady, not as heavy as we were seeing, but still going to be adding into all the rainfall. Winds for Skagway and Haines are going to continue to stay breezy with some gusts upwards of 40 miles per hour plus into Tuesday. 

Then we have a short lull in precipitation. Then we’ve got another system moving through and this one is going to be moving through Wednesday night into Thursday, and then enhanced again on Friday. This is the bigger system for precipitation. That one we are especially looking at the areas, kind of the area near Yakutat, upwards of two to three inches for Wednesday. 

And then as we start moving into Friday an atmospheric river sets up, and that’s basically what it sounds like a river of water moving through the atmosphere. That’s where you might be seeing upwards of almost an inch every six hours, especially for Yakutat. 

Swasey – Is it looking just as bad in Skagway and Haines?

For  Haines and Skagway, get a little bit less precipitation than some areas right now such as Yakutat, Gustavus, or Juneau. But still, enough heavy rain that we’re concerned about flooding throughout the week. We’ve already seen some rises on the Taiya River. 

In addition to the rain, we’re also still going to be seeing windy conditions throughout this time with some lulls in between the system. 

Swasey – When you say atmospheric river, that brings us back to the big storms from last December that caused the fatal landslides in Haines and big washouts in Skagway, are we looking at a repeat?

Boyd –  At this time, not anywhere near those amounts. That was a significant event with the streams flowing through with multiple bands. This one is a little bit faster moving. So while there will be a good hit of rain moving through, we are not expecting the rainfall totals that we saw for December. 

However, since we’ve been getting soaking rain, landslides and any unstable events are always a concern. 

Swasey – All right, but we’re not necessarily calling for nearly as much precipitation as we had in December. The chances of landslides are probably less pronounced than certainly, they were back then. 

Boyd – That is correct. That is correct at this time. But we have seen some other landslides further south, not as impactful, Metlakatla had one that shut down a roadway temporarily. So the area around Southeast we’re always concerned, especially when we start seeing these prolonged rain events. 

Swasey – Okay. Pete, thank you so much for the update and we’ll stay tuned. 

Boyd – No problem. Have a good day.

Skagway officials recommend that residents secure items that may blow around in the wind, and stock up with extra batteries, flashlights, and candles, in case severe weather causes more power outages. For a more detailed forecast visit weather.gov.