A heavy snowstorm hit the upper Lynn Canal on Monday. Some services were disrupted, and all borough facilities in Haines closed early.
Southeast Alaska is experiencing strong winds and precipitation. The weather station on Rocky Island, at the southern end of the Lynn canal, recorded gusts over a hundred miles an hour on Monday afternoon. Eldred Rock recorded winds over 70 mph.
In Haines, the borough manager ordered that borough employees go home at 2 p.m. to reduce traffic to make space for plowing crews.
The school in Haines closed at 2, and all after-school activities have been canceled.
Power lines fell on Beach Road. The Haines Police Department asked residents in that neighborhood to stay at their homes until the issue is resolved. The repair work cannot proceed at this time because of the high winds, and Beach Road will remain closed overnight.
No disruptions were reported in Skagway as of Monday mid-afternoon.
Andrew Park works for the National Weather Service in Juneau. He says the precipitation and wind are forecast to last through the night.
Park: “It’s a combination of a potent low coming in from the gulf, and then you have a cold arctic high pressure across interior Canada, and it’s driving this really tight pressure gradient. You get tight pressure gradient, you get strong winds.”
Park says the winds will lessen on Tuesday morning, and die down by that evening.
The storm is affecting all areas of Southeast Alaska. Many landslides were reported around Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island. These landslides have affected the power grid, with many communities in the area reporting power outages. Parts of North Tongass Highway in Ketchikan were closed today (Monday) due to a landslide in the Ward Cove Area.
Landslides were reported in Hydaburg, Black Bear Lake, and between Craig and Klawock. A road was also washed out in Coffman Cove. A Hydaburg resident reported several power poles were snapped in half.
All ferries to and from the Prince of Wales have been canceled.
No casualties have been reported.
