Weather service lifts Petersburg dense fog advisory early; more fog possible Wednesday

Editors Note: This story has been updated to reflect current the canceled dense fog advisory.

The National Weather Service in Juneau canceled a dense fog advisory for Petersburg Borough at 6:49 am Tuesday, about four hours early, saying conditions had improved, though small patches of fog could linger around sunrise.

The advisory, issued at 8:33 pm Monday, warned of visibility down to a quarter mile and was set to run until 11 am. Forecasters had said low visibility could make travel hazardous and told drivers to slow down, use their headlights and leave plenty of distance ahead of them. A separate advisory issued early Tuesday for Angoon, covering Thursday morning, was canceled at the same time.

Fog could return overnight. Forecasters said Petersburg and Wrangell have the best chance of fog developing again by early Wednesday, and it could spread to Prince of Wales Island and Ketchikan depending on how quickly clouds clear.

The weather service has also issued a flood watch from Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon for Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Petersburg, Wrangell, Kake and Prince of Wales Island communities as a strong atmospheric river moves in. Forecasters expect 4 to 6 inches of rain around Ketchikan and Metlakatla and 2 to 3.5 inches in the central panhandle and on Prince of Wales Island from early Thursday to late Friday morning. Alaska News reported Monday on the incoming atmospheric river.

The remnants of Typhoon Koguma are expected to move into the Gulf of Alaska over the weekend, though forecasters said its track remains uncertain.