There’s a chance of snow in the capital city this weekend, but don’t hold your breath for it.
At least one weather model showed snow coming to Juneau over the coming days, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Pete Boyd, but there’s not a high probability of it coming to fruition.
“Right now we’re actually going to be looking dry for the weekend,” Boyd said in a Thursday interview. “Low-pressure system is much further to the south and we’re not really seeing it get up to the area to produce any significant precipitation for us. There is one model that is pushing it a little north, but we’re kind of looking at that as an outlier.”
Since Jan. 1, the capital city has received 37 inches of snow, less than halfway to the yearly average (1981-2010) of 87 inches. Should 2019 fail to reach that average, it would follow in line with the last five years of below-average snowfall, anywhere between 27 and 68 inches.
Boyd said there is a good chance of high winds downtown Friday night and Saturday, with gusts at least 40 mph.
“So it’s going to be cold, we’re more confident it’s going to be dry but we’re also looking at windy conditions for the weekend,” Boyd said. The high temperatures Saturday will be in the mid-30s.
There’s a chance snow could make an appearance at the beginning of next week.
“With that cold air in place we could get a start of some snow, but there’s once again a good amount of warm air moving up with it,” Boyd said.
• Contact reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com.
