Anchorage trades summer warmth for a cool, wet stretch

Anchorage is sliding out of its peak-summer warmth and into several days of rain and clouds that will hold afternoon highs near or below 60 degrees.

The Weather Service forecast calls for rain likely Wednesday, rain Thursday, and showers likely through the weekend, with highs hovering between 58 and 62 through Monday. That's several degrees below normal for July, usually Anchorage's warmest month, when highs average in the mid-60s — and the persistent clouds and rain will strip away the sun that had made recent days feel warmer.

Behind it is a series of low-pressure systems tracking through Southcentral Alaska, part of a broader pattern forecasters expect to linger. A slow-moving upper-level trough is parked over much of the state into next week, setting up an extended unsettled stretch of daily rain chances — including a multi-day heavy-rain threat for parts of Southcentral and Southwest Alaska — with below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation across much of the mainland around mid-month.

None of it is extreme cold; it's just a run of damp, jacket-weather days at the low end of Anchorage's usual July range, with midsummer daylight paired with weather more typical of late summer.

The Weather Service also flagged gusty southeasterly winds in gap-wind areas — Turnagain Arm, South Anchorage, and the Hillside — where a wind advisory was in effect Tuesday evening.