Alaska Extended Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
800 PM EDT Tue Jul 26 2022
Valid 12Z Sun Jul 31 2022 - 12Z Thu Aug 04 2022
...General Overview...
A well defined surface low will track across the Aleutians for the
end of the week, likely reaching the northern Gulf region by next
Sunday in a weakened state. A brief period of upper level ridging
is expected for the southern half of the state ahead of the
trough, but still remaining rather chilly north of the Brooks
Range.
...Guidance/Predictability Assessment...
The latest run of the models are handling the overall large scale
pattern fairly well with typical spread in specific details. The
greatest differences remain with the location of retreating polar
low across the Arctic Coast region. There is also spread with a
low progged to cross the Bering Sea/Aleutians splitting into two
separate surface lows. Of the solutions, the ECWMF continues to be
stronger and on the west side of the cluster while the GFS is
faster and on the east side. The timing and strength differences
is resulting in QPF placements from the GFS (at times from the
CMC) over portions northern portions of the Mainland and higher
amounts over the west/southwest Mainland when compared to the
ECWMF and the ensemble means. The initial WPC blend was comprised
of the ECWMF/CMC/GFS through early Sunday, and then transitioning
to a weighting of about 35 percent ECENS/GEFS by the end of the
extended.
...Sensible Weather...
Seasonable temperatures are expected for a large portion of
central and southern Alaska where daily maximums will be in the
50s to 60s, with some 70s in the lower elevations of the Interior
going into the weekend. The daily minimums will be brisk, mainly
in the 30s, for the Brooks range and areas to the north during the
weekend before trending warmer for the start of the week. The
southeast panhandle region will also likely have warmer than
average temperatures through Saturday owing to the upper level
ridge in place across southwestern Canada. Scattered rain is
expected across parts of the interior, southern Mainland and the
Southwest as a surface low pressure system lifts northward through
the region.
Campbell
Additional 3-7 Day Hazard Information can be found on the WPC
medium range hazards outlook chart at:
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/threats/threats.php
No significant hazards are expected over Alaska during this
forecast period.
WPC medium range Alaskan products including 500mb, surface
fronts/pressures progs and sensible weather grids can also be
found at:
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/alaska/ak_5dayfcst500_wbg.gif
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/alaska/akmedr.shtml
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/alaska/ak_5km_gridsbody.html