Rain is on the way to Southeast Alaska this weekend, beginning after 7 p.m. Friday (9-15-23), and it’s uncertain whether it will be as heavy a dunking as this past Wednesday and Thursday.
To beat Wednesday and Thursday, it will have to be a lot of rain.
Based on data collected at the several weather stations now distributed around Sitka, rainfall was fairly steady – at about a half-inch per hour – beginning at 3 a.m. on Wednesday, and not letting up until 11 p.m. on Thursday.
In just 12 hours on Thursday, the rain gauge at the Sitka Golf Course measured 5-and-a-half inches of rain between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. It was toward the end of that period – about 2 p.m. – that the Sitka Landslide Warning Dashboard elevated the landslide alert level in Sitka to “medium.”
Ḵaasda Héen – or the Indian River – rose steeply over the course of the day on Thursday, but it crested fairly early at 11:15 a.m. at just under 25 feet – about 4 feet higher than its normal levels.
Although the next storm may not be as wet, it could be windier. The National Weather Service is forecasting storm-force winds of 50 knots near Cape Suckling this weekend. Onshore, we could see southeast winds of 25-30 miles per hour, with gusts to 40.
