Wind and rain forecast for southern Southeast a day after gusts up north

The National Weather Service had Ketchikan, Annette Island and Prince of Wales Island under wind advisories Sunday as a storm was forecast to move into southern Southeast Alaska, a day after gusts topped 40 mph from Skagway to Yakutat.

The advisories called for gusts up to 40 mph in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and on Prince of Wales, and up to 50 mph on Annette Island. The Prince of Wales advisory runs until 3 pm and the others until 5 pm. Forecasters expected gusts of 35 to 45 mph along and south of a low moving through, according to the agency's latest forecast discussion.

Ketchikan, Annette Island and Hyder could get 2 inches of rain or more through Monday night, forecasters said, with a half-inch to an inch expected elsewhere.

In the north, heavy snow on the upper Klondike Highway, under a winter storm warning until 3 pm, was expected to taper off by afternoon.

Saturday's wind came with a front that pushed into the northern Panhandle. Skagway's automated station recorded a 44 mph gust, a station just west of Haines hit 43 mph and Yakutat's airport reached 51 mph late in the morning, according to preliminary storm reports.

The highest reading was 70 mph, but it came from a mountaintop sensor about 4,200 feet up, 5 miles northeast of Juneau. Another mountaintop site east of Douglas, at 3,500 feet, hit 49 mph.

Earlier this month, an Oct. 20 storm sent a gust to 76 mph at Sitka's airport and cut power to most of Juneau.