Gusts to 80 mph at Atka and Adak, strong wind into Friday night

Wind gusts of up to 80 mph are bearing down on Atka and Adak today, and the National Weather Service in Anchorage is warning residents of both communities to brace for widespread power outages and difficult travel.

The High Wind Warning runs from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. AKDT (Alaska Daylight Time) Thursday, with west winds of 45 to 65 mph. Atka and Adak are an hour behind Anchorage, in the Hawaii-Aleutian zone, so there it is 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The strongest winds are expected between noon and 3 p.m. AKDT, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. there, and forecasters say east-west channels could produce locally higher gusts.

"People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around or damaged by the wind. Prepare for the possibility of widespread power outages. Use caution if you must drive," the warning said. TDX Adak Generating takes outage calls at 907-592-2499.

The coastal waters forecast has a storm warning on the water around Adak through tonight, with west wind to 55 knots and seas of 15 to 21 feet building to 22 to 33 feet.

Today's wind comes from a deep low pressure system in the southern Bering Sea, tracked by NWS Anchorage as a 964 millibar low, a pressure reading: lower means deeper, 200 nautical miles northeast of Shemya.

Adak is home to 247 people and Atka to 70, counted in 2013 and published by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys in its Regional Tsunami Hazard Assessment for Andreanof Islands.

An Aleutians East Borough hazard plan records hurricane-force gusts to 75 mph at Adak in a central Aleutians storm on March 1, 2010, below today's forecast.

The zone forecast for Atka and Adak is headlined strong wind through Friday night, so the hazard outlasts the warning: gusts to 75 mph tonight, then 55 easing to 45 on Friday. NWS Anchorage updates at weather.gov/afc.