By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Another fall storm is forecast for Southeast over the weekend, adding even more rain to an already abnormally wet October, the National Weather Service says.
Normally, October is Sitka’s wettest month with an average of 11.78 inches of rainfall, NWS data shows. But as of today Sitka already is at 13.51 inches for the month.
Along with extra rain Saturday through Sunday, Sitkans also can expect high winds, National Weather Service meteorologist Nathan Compton said.
“Since this is a storm-force low, we’re definitely looking at seeing some storm-force winds. If you don’t know, that’s 48 knots,” Compton told the Sentinel from his Juneau office. “Probably going to see that along the coast, not necessarily in the inner channels, but definitely along the coast.”
On Wednesday, the wind in Sitka hit 36 mph out of the east at 2:07 a.m.
A graphic published by the Weather Service on Wednesday indicates two possible tracks for the storm: a slower, warmer northerly route and a quicker, colder southerly route.
Compton said it’s hard to tell which path the storm will follow.
“At this point, we’re still unsure about the current storm track. Basically, what we have out is pretty much what we’re thinking as of the current moment… For Southeast Alaska in the fall, this is fairly typical. It’s no surprise that we get these stronger storms in the fall,” he said.
He said Sitka’s foul autumn weather occurs because cold air from Canada combines with warmer ocean air and “creates a lot of instability in the atmosphere. It just kind of really reinforces the storms.”
While Wednesday’s 2.50 inches of rain put Sitka almost 2 inches above its average cumulative rainfall for October, Compton noted Sitka set its record one-day rainfall total in October 2005 when 4.74 inches fell. In 1978, Sitka recorded its wettest ever October with 30.84 inches of precipitation.
More information is available at forecast.weather.gov, and the Weather Service also posts updates on social media.
While heavy rainfall triggered a small, non-lethal landslide that damaged homes in downtown Juneau in September, Sitka has yet to experience a landslide this year. As of today, Sitka’s landslide risk dashboard, sitkalandslide.org, said the risk of a slide is low for the entirety of the three-day forecast, which extends through Sunday.
