Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Whale Pass, AK

SHORT TERM
TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY.

Taking a look at the general pattern, we note a weak area of high pressure currently centered over the eastern Gulf of Alaska. That ridge of high pressure will remain in place over the eastern Gulf through Thursday, meaning no big changes in the near term forecast are expected in our overall weather pattern. Widespread clouds and morning fog are again possible for some areas on Thursday, especially over the eastern Gulf and along the outer coast. Looking at the southern Alaska Panhandle for Thursday, we will still see some scattered light rain showers moving through in the late morning through the afternoon hours.

Looking to our Friday forecast, the high pressure system strengthens over Southeast Alaska as a low pressure system starts to form over the southwestern Gulf. This means a generally drier pattern is expected for Southeast Alaska for Friday, with slightly warmer than normal temperatures into the mid 60s to lower 70s.

/Garmon


LONG TERM
/SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... Overnight Friday into Saturday, a front pushes northward onto the northern gulf coast, bringing strong winds and heavy precipitation to the area.
Yakutat will be the highest affected location with the middle of the road outcome (50th percentile) showing 1 inch of rain in 6 hours at the heaviest rainfall which is expected to occur Sunday evening. There is currently a 10% chance that this amount of rainfall will exceed 1.5 inches in 6 hours for this same time period.

Outer coastal communities are likely to see moderate precipitation by Saturday morning. Communities between Lynn Canal and Fredrick Sound are also expected to see rain through the day Saturday, however, it will likely be on the lighter side. The southern panhandle looks to remain dry and warmer on Saturday, as a ridge lingers in the upper levels. Temperatures are expected to be in the high 60s to low 70s with overcast skies.

Sunday looks to bring a higher chance of precipitation across the whole panhandle, with heaviest amounts again in the north. The upper level jet continues to have an onshore flow pattern which is likely to bring more seasonable precipitation across the panhandle on Monday.

/Perez

AVIATION
Generalized high pressure over the Gulf of Alaska is resulting in a broken up marine layer that will remain over the area through Friday. This layer is and will continue to impact coastal terminals with IFR ceilings and isolated IFR visibilities due to mist/light rain. Over the low level marine layer is a weak mid level disturbance approaching the southern panhandle form the SW.
This will bring generalized MVFR ceilings and rain showers for areas south of Juneau through Thursday morning. As the weak low tracks east over BC throughout the day Thursday conditions will be improving to VFR from the N/NW, with isolated rain showers still possible.

MARINE
FOR THE EASTERN GULF OF ALASKA AND INSIDE WATERS OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA...

Outside (Gulf and Coastal Waters): Beside some fog, not much going on across the gulf regarding wind and seas, with ASCAT/OSCAT Satellite wind passes showing gentle to moderate breezes along the PoW coast out of the northwest. Sea state is dominated from the southwest at 10 seconds, 5 ft. However, we are seeing some signal of 20 seconds southerly swell from the far south pacific registering at buoy 46082. Moving into Thursday, northwest winds freshen up along the coast to fresh breezes, especially along prominent Capes like Cape Ommaney into Coronation Island. Friday winds begin to slowly slacken and turn southeast in response to a gale force low. Southeast winds strengthen Saturday reaching strong breezes by the afternoon. Winds will peak at near- gale force for most areas west of the Fairweather Grounds Sunday, with localized gale force conditions near Cape St. Elias/Cape Suckling.
Southerly seas build to 12 to 14 ft west of the Fairweather grounds as well.

Inside (Inner Channels): Areas of fog in the morning and sea breezes in the afternoon remain the primary threat overnight Wednesday into Friday. Mariners navigating Icy Strait into Glacier Bay should be aware of 15 to 20 knot westerly winds coming in from Cross Sound Thursday afternoon, along with Lynn Canal. Friday winds look to start diminishing, leaving lighter winds over the weekend. /Park



AJK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
PUBLIC...None.
MARINE...None.