In this October 2015 file photo, Maple leaves fall on Seward Street as a pedestrian ducks Friday’s rain in front of City Hall. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire file)

In this October 2015 file photo, Maple leaves fall on Seward Street as a pedestrian ducks Friday’s rain in front of City Hall. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire file)

October dampens drought but doesn’t solve it in Southeast Alaska rainforest

Region still well below normal, particularly in southern Southeast

For parched Southeast Alaska, October’s rainfall brought some needed relief.

According to figures from the National Weather Service office here, 10.42 inches of rain were recorded at Juneau International Airport last month. The airport is the city’s official measuring point and has kept records since 1936.

This October was only the 19th wettest on record at the airport, but it was 1.79 inches above normal and a significant change from the rest of the year. Juneau and the rest of Southeast Alaska have been exceptionally dry this year, even experiencing drought conditions at times.

In southern Southeast, particularly Ketchikan, Prince of Wales Island and Metlakatla, the drought has been severe enough to restrict hydropower production and cause some minor fish die-offs.

Even with the help that October brought, Southeast remains drier than normal for the year. Between Jan. 1 and Monday morning, Juneau has seen 44.92 inches of precipitation (rain and melted snow), 6.38 inches below normal.

While Juneau benefitted from a wet October, Ketchikan received only 62 percent of its normal rainfall in October and is 29 inches below normal for the year.

“Still, the situation over the southern Panhandle is somewhat better than it was in September,” the Weather Service wrote in its monthly update, before concluding, “However, portions of the southern Panhandle remain in a severe drought and significant impacts to communities located there persist.”

October finished as the fourth-warmest in Juneau’s recorded history, averaging 45.5 degrees. The warmest, 46.6 degrees, was in 1942, but that record is missing two days. If years without complete data are ignored, this October was the third-warmest.

The warmest day ever recorded in October came on Oct. 1 this year, when the thermometer read 63 at the airport.

Elsewhere in Southeast, Yakutat had its warmest October ever, averaging 46.5 degrees. (The old record was 45.9, set in 1980.) Sitka matched its warmest October, averaging 50.6 degrees. Skagway had its third-warmest October.

The National Climate Prediction Center expects a good chance for warm and wet conditions to continue through November. In its November preview, it projected a 60 percent chance of above-normal temperatures and a greater-than-normal chance of above-normal precipitation.

The winter’s first snowfall arrived Nov. 1, and 3.2 inches have been recorded through Monday morning at the airport.

Conditions are expected to be clear and cold through Wednesday night, when a rain-snow mix returns to the Juneau area. The coldest temperatures of the winter will arrive Tuesday night, when clear skies will allow temperatures to dip into the teens in the Mendenhall Valley and the low 20s downtown.


• Contact reporter James Brooks at jbrooks@juneauempire.com or 523-2258.


More in News

(Juneau Empire File)
Aurora forecast for the week of Nov. 27

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

Wade Bryson, a Juneau Assembly member, explains why he favors giving local businesses a “sales tax holiday” for at least one day next year, targeting Feb. 29 as a suitable date, during the Assembly’s Finance Committee meeting Wednesday night. The committee voted to hold onto the proposal for further study rather than sending it to the full Assembly. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
A local sales tax holiday? Don’t pack your shopping bags yet

Proposal to waive taxes for a day or two each year isn’t a quick sale to most Assembly members

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Choir members rehearse Tuesday night for a Bach holiday concert at Ḵunéix̱ Hídi Northern Light United Church. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Quartet of Bach compositions joins lineup of local large-ensemble performances this season

Concerts this weekend part of resurging “wealth of riches” by choruses and orchestras, director says.

The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry LeConte at the Auke Bay Terminal on Monday, March 5, 2018. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Petition seeks name change for LeConte state ferry

Petersburg man calling attention to what he calls Joseph LeConte’s racist history.

The deadly landslide that struck Wrangell on the night of Nov. 20 is seen the next day. Southeast Alaska is, by nature, vulnerable to such landslides, but climate change is adding to the risk by bringing more precipitation and more extreme rainfall events. (Photo provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Deadly Wrangell landslide is part of a pattern in vulnerable Alaska mountainous terrain

Scientists warn climate change, by increasing precipitation and extreme rainfall, adds to risks.

Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire File
Even the Grinch got into the holiday spirit at last year’s Gallery Walk on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022.
An abundance of traditional and new ways to capitalize on this year’s Gallery Walk

More than 50 events scheduled Friday afternoon and evening from downtown to Douglas.

This view is from Wrangell on Sept. 11, 2022. (Photo by Joaqlin Estus/ICT)
Conservation group supports formation of new Alaska Native corporations

The conservation group the Wilderness Society has changed its position and now… Continue reading

From her hospital bed on Friday, Nov. 24, Christina Florschutz demonstrates how she pulled pajama bottoms that she found in the landslide debris over her legs, arms and head to keep warm. Her house was destroyed in the landslide, and after spending the night in the wreckage, she was rescued the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 21. (Caroleine James / Wrangell Sentinel)
Elementary school aide who survived Wrangell landslide calls circumstances a miracle

Christina Florschutz trapped overnight by landslide that killed at least 4 people, with 2 missing.

Most Read