Connor Dunlap with the Sitka Public Works Department uses a front-end loader to remove a mountain of snow piled near the intersection of Baranof and Etolin streets this morning. More snow is in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday and near-record lows next week. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitkans can expect frigid temperatures and significant snowfall in the opening days of the new year, with lows predicted to fall into the single digits, a National Weather Service meteorologist says.
“We’re seeing a fairly significant cold pool of air moving in… and starting to push over the northern Panhandle,” NWS meteorologist Brian Bezenek told the Sentinel from his Juneau office Tuesday. “You’re going to have some near record temperatures – I’m not sure if Sitka is going to break any, but you’re going to get darn close.”
Though temperatures in town today are above freezing and rainy, the National Weather Service forecast calls for a rapid drop in temperatures over the weekend and into next week. The low tonight is predicted to fall to the mid-20s, but by Sunday night the low is anticipated to range between 9 and 15 degrees Fahrenheit. On Monday night, the low is predicted to be about 10 degrees, with a high of 16 on Jan. 4.
Looking through historic records, Bezenek said the record low for the first week of January in Sitka is 5 degrees on New Year’s Day in 1950. There were early January temperatures of 6 degrees on several occasions in the 1960s, he added.
A little wind in combination with the low temperature will make it feel colder yet, the meteorologist said.
“There should be some wind around, which would put the windchill temperatures – the apparent temperatures – if you had open skin, it would feel like probably 5 to 10 below. You can probably anticipate below zero wind chills,” Bezenek said.
An average January day in Sitka ranges from around 40 to the low 30s at night, he added.
The abnormally chilly air on its way to Sitka is the result of a massive ridge of cold air in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.
“We have a big blocking ridge setting up to our west, the high amplitude ridge is over the Bering Sea… and that huge amplitude ridge is pushing storms well into the Arctic before they turn around and then they dive south… and that’s what we have coming up there,” Bezenek said. “We have this huge ridge sitting up there… we’re taking all the colder air that would be farther north and we’re moving it south.”
Along with extraordinary cold temperatures, the forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and up to a foot of snowfall.
“It looks like 6 to 12 inches would be a right guess, most of it falling Friday and Friday night,” he said.
Southeast Alaskans rarely have to deal with sub-zero felt temperatures, and Bezenek reminded Sitkans that exposed skin can freeze quickly.
“Be aware of how long it takes exposed skin to freeze,” he said.
The Cleveland Clinic website says that exposed skin can become frostbitten in only ten minutes when exposed to -10 degree temperatures.
More information is available at weather.gov.
