textproduct: Juneau

UPDATE

The Gale force front has weakened significantly the past 3 hours, and is gradually making its exit to the east across our far southeastern zones at this time. The only gusts to Gale force the past hour on the marine sites was Tree Point well to the east of Kethikan, and that is currently showing 33 kt gusts. We are leaving the Ketchikan, Annette and east areas in the Wind Advisory for now, but that should be diminishing after midnight. Periodic gusts to 40 mph expected (except in higher elevations) for the most part the next 4 hours for those areas. 05/Garmon

MARINE UPDATE

The front is moving through the Clarence Strait areas through midnight before exiting to the east and across Dixon Entrance. We have dropped the Gale Warnings with some lingering Small Craft Advisories for northern Lynn Canal and Clarence Strait through early morning. We keep the Small Craft Advisories going for the coastla waters along and offshore of the outer coast through tomorrow, mainly due to seas 10 to 15 ft lingering. Otherwise, looking west we note the low centered near 60N/150W that will continue moving slowly to the southeast across the northern Gulf of Alaska through Thursday. 05/Garmon

PREV DISCUSSION

ISSUED AT 414 PM AKDT Tue Oct 20 2026

SYNOPSIS...

Key Messages:

- Wind gusts ranging from 40-60 mph reported overnight with highest gusts through inner channels Tuesday evening and nigh. Winds to decrease after the front moves through. Strong wind gusts continue through Thursday afternoon with widespread Wind Advisories.

- Mariners, a sharp Westerly wind shift expected from South to west to finish Tuesday evening. Isolated Thunderstorms continuing through late Tuesday night into Wednesday across the Northern Gulf mainly closer to Downwind terrain.

- Onshore flow lasting until Thursday will keep rain showers across the panhandle, before rain chances diminish and bring a drier trend going into the end of the week.

SHORT TERM...A cold front continues to push eastward across the panhandle this afternoon into tonight, bringing moderate to heavy rain alongside elevated winds and gusts of 45 to 60 mph. Just as this front passes, the rain amounts will greatly diminish and the southeasterly gusty conditions will begin to shift to more southerly to southwesterly and diminish into the evening. Elevated winds will continue overnight into the morning for the Haines and Skagway areas however, while much of the panhandle will begin to see a drop in winds much sooner.

Behind this front will be onshore flow with showers pushing into the panhandle this evening into Wednesday and Thursday. There is a slight chance for thunderstorm development this evening and through the day Wednesday as more convective showers push into the NE Gulf coast down to PoW Island, largely beginning to develop as they hit the coastal mountains near the Fairweather grounds and along Baranof Island. Much of these more isolated thunderstorms will remain just offshore and along the coastline inland, with less likelihood of moving further inland, however shower activity with some heavier showers at times and periods of gusty winds will still affect other parts of the panhandle even if lightning and thunderstorm potential remains more along the outer coastline. As we get into the end of the day Thursday, showers will begin to diminish and start to bring an end to this more wet and active pattern we have had.

LONG TERM.../Thursday through Sunday/... Benign days are ahead compared to the last week of strong systems for the panhandle. Friday sees the low pressure currently in the northern gulf finally fill completely, with another system moving up from the southwest. Not expecting this system to reach the southern panhandle fully, only expecting the extreme southern portion to be clipped by some moisture Saturday going into Sunday. Otherwise, expect to start out with mostly a cool trend, with overnight temperatures dipping down into the low to mid 30s, and the northern panhandle possibly getting down into the upper 20s. Could see some northerly winds increase out of Lynn Canal, but uncertainty in low strength and has lead to less winds for now.

AVIATION.../Through 18z Wednesday/...The front continues to move across the panhandle with winds and precipitation amounts slowly diminishing behind it. Currently winds and rain rates have begun to slightly increase across the southern portions of the panhandle. This front continues to bring low ceilings and visibilities, predominately MVFR, but there have been periods of IFR due to visibilities below 3SM. We have started to see improvements behind the front with increasing ceilings to above 3000 ft. Ongoing onshore flow will continue allowing for showers across the area. This will keep variable conditions, between VFR and MVFR, across the area with ceilings remaining around 2500 to 3000 ft. Brief breaks will allow for improved conditions with times of scattered to clear skies.

Strongest winds will remain near Haines and Skagway into early Wednesday morning. The strongest gusts, observed this afternoon, will slowly diminish but remain strong around 30 to 40 mph over these two locations. Otherwise, winds will continue to diminish behind the front dropping to around 15 to 20 kts by Wednesday morning.

MARINE... Inner channels: Southerly wind of 35 to 40 through much of the inner channels late this afternoon into the early evening falling off. Some of the Gusts in the 50s and near 60s from this afternoon and evening until the main wind band ends. Winds will persist to be the strongest over the eastern channels this evening.

Outer waters: The strong south winds ahead of of the front were 35 to 40 earlier today, but winds behind the front briefly strong and gusty have have shifted more westerly and will continue into Wednesday. Northern portion may need watch for Isolate thunder, as an airmass that may support convection approaches the coastline that could trigger an Rain shower or thunderstorm. A good southwest-west swell keeping to higher wave heights into the eastern gulf elevated into Wednesday.

AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

PUBLIC...Wind Advisory until 10 AM AKDT Wednesday for AKZ318. Wind Advisory until 4 AM AKDT Wednesday for AKZ330-332. MARINE...Small Craft Advisory for PKZ012-022-036-053-641>644-651-652- 661>664-671-672.