Rough water off Alaska's Arctic and Northwest coasts, easing by Sunday

Boaters along Alaska's Arctic and Northwestern coasts are under small craft advisories through Friday, with north winds around 25 knots and seas of 4 to 7 feet — the northwestern waters running the higher end of that range.

For the subsistence fishers, hunters, and commercial operators who work these waters in summer, it's the kind of chop that shapes when to head out and how far. An advisory isn't a closure, but it's a reason to wait: individual waves run bigger than the forecast average, and conditions like these make for a hard, wet run.

Relief is coming. Both zones are forecast to settle to 10-knot winds and 2-foot seas by Sunday. Until then, the National Weather Service says to check the latest marine forecast before leaving the dock — this week's numbers have already been revised down once from rougher early projections.