A warm and wet weather system could spur flooding in Anchor Point and Seward this weekend.
Celine Van Breukelen is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service, in Anchorage. She said the heavy rainfall will come from a low-pressure system that started down by California and is working its way up the north Pacific.
"Which is why it’s bringing all that warm moisture to the Alaska coast," she said.
Van Breukelen said the weather system is expected to impact Kodiak, all the way through the western Prince William Sound.
In Seward, there will likely be heavy rain through Monday, with totals of six to eight inches.
Van Breukelen said water levels in Seward creeks are now low. But the rain could still trigger a domino effect.
“Seward is vulnerable because they have a lot of gravel that comes from the mountains that are surrounding them," she said. "So when they get a lot of runoff from these intense rain events, they have a lot of gravel that is washed into the streams. That gravel just displaces the water, causing the water to overflow its banks.”
The system will be warm, since it contains tropical air. Snow is unlikely.
The flood warning in Seward and its neighboring communities is in effect tonight through Monday. High winds are also expected through Saturday night.
The Anchor Point area could also see flooding this weekend, particularly by the Anchor River State Recreation Area. That could extend further depending on rain levels.
"If it were to go higher, the other places we would look in addition to the state rec area are there’s a portion of the Anchor River that parallels the Sterling Highway for a while," she said. "December of 2019, the water reached the elevation of the roadway and was encroaching on the highway a little bit.”
The flood warning in Anchor Point extends from Saturday morning through Monday.
Kenai can also expect rain all weekend. And yes, that does extend through Halloween.
You can keep up with flood warnings through the weekend at weather.gov/Anchorage.
