Mountaintop station near Juneau records 70 mph gust as front crosses northern Panhandle

A mountaintop station 5 miles northeast of Juneau recorded a 70 mph gust at 6:45 am Saturday, the National Weather Service in Juneau reported. The station sits at about 4,200 feet.

The wind arrived with a front that pushed into the northern Panhandle Saturday morning, the agency's forecast discussion said. Gusts topped 40 mph from Skagway to Yakutat overnight and into the morning, a preliminary storm report shows. Skagway's automated station logged 44 mph, and a station 2 miles west of Haines logged 43 mph.

In the Juneau area, another mountaintop site 5 miles east of Douglas, at 3,500 feet, reached 49 mph. A site 4 miles southwest of Juneau reached 43 mph.

At Yakutat, gusts reached 51 mph at the airport station and 47 mph at a nearby Mesonet sensor late Saturday morning, according to a second report. The town was under a wind advisory until 1 pm Saturday that called for gusts up to 45 mph.

The readings come from automated airport stations and Mesonet sensors, and the weather service labels them preliminary.

Several alerts remain in effect today. A Winter Storm Warning covers the Klondike Highway, including White Pass, until 3 pm. The warning says 9 to 14 inches of snow is possible, while the office's zone forecast calls for around 8 inches near White Pass and little or none elsewhere in the Skagway area.

Wind advisories run until 3 pm for Prince of Wales Island, with gusts up to 40 mph, and until 5 pm for the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and Annette Island, with gusts up to 40 mph in the borough and 50 mph on Annette Island.

Saturday's forecast discussion said a low developing along the stalled front would push into the southern Panhandle by later Sunday with strong, gusty winds, and that wind advisories might be needed for Sitka and Ketchikan.

Alaska News previously covered an Oct. 20 storm that sent a gust to 76 mph at Sitka's airport and cut power to most of Juneau.