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Juneau, Alaska broke its 24-hour precipitation record Tuesday and Wednesday, triggering devastating floods and mudslides from an atmospheric river.
Juneau picked up 5. 08 inches of rain in 24 hours to 3 a. m. Wednesday, which breaks the previous record for a period of 24 hours in Alaska’s capital, 4. 66 inches on Oct. . 9-10, 1946, according to Rick Thoman, climate specialist at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
Two more cities, Pelican (9. 75 inches) and Skagway (5th. Alaska-based climatologist Brian Brettschneider has also set new rainfall records for calendar days.
This pouring rain caused flooding and mudslides in parts of the city, particularly the neighborhoods northwest of downtown near the Mendenhall Valley and Juneau International Airport.
A landslide damaged a home in the Salmon Creek neighborhood. Another mudslide less than a mile away threatened a city park, reported KTOO-TV.
Jordan Creek in the Mendenhall Valley was brought to its highest level in at least eight years on Tuesday – above levels the National Weather Service said would flood homes and businesses in Jordan Square. As a result, streets and parking lots were flooded.
Local officials have warned of a high avalanche risk due to the heavy rain, particularly along Thane Road southeast of downtown, where the first avalanche of the season occurred on Tuesday.
Several landslides isolated the city of Hyder, about 230 miles southeast of Juneau, from its nearest town, Stewart, British Columbia. The power went down for two days, according to NWS in Juneau.
A mudslide blocked the only road outside of Haines, about 75 miles north-northwest of Juneau, on Wednesday, blocking access to the city’s airport and ferry terminal. Haines has also broken its records for one-day and two-day rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.
In an average year, Juneau has measurable rainfall for three out of five days. The Alaska city of Yakutat averages a whopping 155 inches of rainfall per year, more than three times that of Houston.
The Pacific jet stream, which carries storms from west to east across the Pacific at this time of year, encountered a roadblock in the form of a high pressure ridge over the U.. . S.. . West Coast.
That forced the jet stream to bend north, opening up a deep plume of moisture known as the atmospheric flow and directing it into southeastern Alaska.
« This type of setup with these atmospheric rivers often affects the panhandle, » NWS meteorologist Caleb Cravens told KRBD Radio. « But what sets this one apart is the rainfall we get. «
This deluge followed the fifth wettest November recorded in Ketchikan, Alaska, one of the wettest cities in southeast Alaska and home of the famous liquid sunshine (rain) dial indicator.
In 2019, southeast Alaska was one of the few areas where the U. . S.. . in severe to extreme drought, a drought that didn’t end until mid-January 2020.
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Alaska, Haines, landslide, flood, Juneau
World News – CA – Atmospheric River shatters Alaskan Capital’s 24-hour rain record | The weather channel – Article from the weather channel | Weather. com
Ref: https://weather.com