Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Port Protection, AK

FXAK67 PAJK 182220 AFDAJK

Southeast Alaska Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Juneau AK Issued by National Weather Service Anchorage AK 220 PM AKDT Sat Apr 18 2026

SHORT TERM

A decaying front will keep precipitation across the the panhandle through Saturday evening before tapering off from north to south late Saturday and into Sunday with an approaching ridge in the gulf from the West. Some light precipitation may ride over the northern edge of the ridge impacting the far northern panhandle and northeast coast through Sunday before a more organized front pushes in the N Gulf near Yakutat through Monday morning.
Anticipating precipitation at sea level to remain predominately rain, with snow accumulations of the higher elevations of the Klondike seeing an additional 1 to 2 inches. Winds across the inner channels will remain relatively light through Saturday night as the pressure gradient across the panhandle slackens across the region. Strongest winds will remain near Skagway, around winds remain near Skagway around 15 kts. Anticipating wind shift from SEly to NWly across the Gulf through late Saturday night and into Sunday morning as ridging moves across the Gulf and eventually across the panhandle through early Monday morning. With saturated low levels and incoming ridge, higher confidence of fog formation with any breaks that form through Sunday morning.

LONG TERM

/Monday through the week/ A ridge pushes into the Gulf of Alaska late Sunday into early Monday. This ridge is likely to lower precipitation chances across the area with the exception of the far north where onshore flow will continue. Even with continued showers into the start of the week, precipitation totals remain on the lower side for Monday. For the northern gulf coast, near Yakutat, 24 hour QPF is most likely to be around 0.5 to 0.6 inches. Depending on the exact location of the ridge, this area has a 20% to 30% chance of seeing around 0.8 inches in 24 hours.
Precipitation amounts greatly decrease as you move farther south with areas from Cape Fairweather to north of Frederick Sound seeing 24 hour rain amounts around 0.2 to 0.4 inches. Upper elevation areas, especially over the northern panhandle could still see snow during the overnight hours.

As we get into mid week, precipitation chances decrease even more with only a few areas of light to moderate showers possible.
Looking at temperatures, again the far northern portions of the area could see low overnight temperatures to around freezing allowing for periods of snow or a wintry mix overnight. Otherwise, as we get further into the week, daily high temperatures will be around normal with highs in the mid 40s to low 50s. There is a chance that the far southern panhandle could see even higher temperatures into the mid to upper 50s depending on if the ridge allows for drier conditions, and in turn less cloud cover. The next organized system moves into the area late next week once again bringing widespread precipitation. We will continue to monitor this late week system due to the model spread on when this system reaches SE AK.
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