textproduct: Anchorage

LONG TERM FORECAST (Days 4 through 7: Sunday through Wednesday)

An amplified upper level pattern sets in late this week as a strong ridge builds over the Aleutians and Bering Sea while a trough digs south across the Interior, supporting an upper level low centered over the western Gulf. A surface low lifting out of the North Pacific into the Gulf will take advantage of this upper level support, bringing a renewed threat for high winds at the end of the weekend for typical locations including the Matanuska Valley, Valdez area/Thompson Pass, and along the southern AKPen and Gulf coast into early next week. Although most precipitation will be pushed into Southeast Alaska, snowfall will linger in the eastern Copper River Valley and Delta through early next week as surface low pressure rotates in the eastern Gulf.

Further west, a tightening pressure gradient between the strong ridge centered over the western Bering and trough over the Mainland will promote strong north-northeast winds across the central and eastern Aleutians on Sunday. The Arctic airmass associated with this trough will keep temperatures below average across southern Alaska, with the coldest areas being the Copper River Basin and interior Southwest Alaska, where ambient temperatures will hover in the range of 20 to 30 below zero.

AVIATION

PANC...VFR conditions will persist through the period. The light winds are expected to become more northerly and increase up to 10 kt tonight into Thursday.