Sitka's wind gusted to 53 mph Thursday, and an advisory runs through noon Friday

Wind gusted to 53 mph at the Sitka airport at 9:53 am Thursday, above the 45 mph a wind advisory had called for, according to the weather service's observations. About 45 minutes later, the National Weather Service in Juneau upgraded Sitka to a high wind warning, calling for southeast winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph.

The airport's reported gusts didn't reach 53 mph again.

Forecasters cut the warning short at 4 pm Thursday and replaced it with a wind advisory through noon Friday for a second round of wind from the south and southwest overnight. Gusts at the airport reached 47 mph early Friday. As of Friday morning, the advisory called for south winds of 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph, and warned that tree limbs could come down and a few power outages may result.

The warning, which the City and Borough of Sitka shared with residents, urged people to secure boats and loose objects and said the wind could damage property, cause power outages and make travel difficult.

It grew out of a wind advisory the weather service issued Wednesday for Sitka, Juneau, Wrangell, Petersburg, western Kupreanof Island and Kuiu Island, calling for gusts up to 45 mph from 9 am to 6 pm Thursday. Early Thursday, forecasters extended Sitka's advisory to 9 am Friday to cover the second round of wind, then upgraded it to the warning at 10:38 am.

The storm hit harder to the south. Gusts reached 111 mph on high ground near Metlakatla on Thursday, and trees fell into power lines in Ketchikan.

The Oct. 20 storm went the same way, by a wider margin: the airport clocked a 76 mph gust, well past the 50 mph the advisories had called for.

Offshore, a small craft advisory covers coastal waters from Cape Decision to Cape Edgecumbe through 6 pm Saturday, with south winds of 25 to 30 knots and seas of 19 to 24 feet.