One year after high winds caused extensive damage in Anchorage and across Southcentral Alaska, September is again starting off with concern about overnight gusts. Christian Cassell, forecaster for the National Weather Service in Anchorage, said winds of 45 to 60 mph will pick up along higher elevations and Turnagain Arm Monday night. He said gusts could reach 75 miles per hour during the evening.
“That will begin to pick up, especially in the next few hours towards this evening and then last all night and then diminish a little bit during the morning tomorrow,” he said Monday afternoon.
Cassell said the Anchorage area could see winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 40 to 50 mph. Weather conditions will be unsettled throughout the week, he said.
“We are looking at another significant low pressure system moving from the North Pacific northward across Southcentral. There are early indications that we could be looking at possibly a more significant wind event, but it’s still too early to say for sure. Confidence is still pretty low at this time.”]
Cassell said there are no indications that there will be a repeat of last year when thousands of Anchorage and Southcentral residents were without power for days, but he said people should be vigilant.
“Now that we’re more confident that we’re going to get stronger winds even into the bowl tonight [Monday]…I want to emphasize we’re not expecting an event like last year Labor Day, but if there are any weak trees with the rainfall and the winds, there could be issues, isolated issues.”
Trees downed by last fall’s wind storm are still visible in many places across Anchorage.
Lori Townsend is the news director and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452.
