Alaska Extended Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service College Park MD
541 PM EDT Tue Jun 17 2025
Valid 12Z Sat 21 Jun 2025 - 12Z Wed 25 Jun 2025
***Very warm conditions continue across central and eastern
portions of the Interior into the weekend***
...General Overview...
The weekend will have a rather amplified upper level pattern in
place across the Alaska domain, with a broad upper low centered
over the general vicinity of the southern Bering, and an upper
ridge extending north from the Gulf of Alaska to the
central/eastern mainland. This will result in continued anomalous
warmth for much of the Interior. The Bering closed low/trough
makes a little more eastward progress going into early next week,
and this will tend to displace the ridge axis some to the east and
a slight cool-down across most of the mainland. A couple of
relatively weak disturbances cross the North Pacific, but they
don't appear to be impactful at this time.
...Guidance Evaluation/Preferences...
The 12Z model guidance suite features very good synoptic scale
agreement and therefore a multi-deterministic model blend suffices
as a starting point in the forecast process. The UKMET becomes
stronger with a triple point low that develops south of the
Aleutians by Sunday, and the CMC becomes faster than the ensemble
consensus with the main upper low from the Bering and takes it
over the northern Gulf. Elsewhere across the domain, there is
decent agreement even into early-mid next week, although mesoscale
differences develop. Therefore, the ensemble means were gradually
increased to about half by next Wednesday.
...Weather/Hazards Highlights...
The main thing making weather headlines will be the continued
above average temperatures across much of the state, with a
particular focus across the central and eastern portions of the
Interior. The highest readings are likely across the Yukon Flats
region from Friday through the weekend, with highs well into the
80s and this is depicted on the WPC medium range hazards chart.
There will also be isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms
that develop across mainly eastern portions of the Interior. More
widespread showers and storms are possible going into Tuesday and
Wednesday of next weekend as a frontal boundary slowly sinks
southward and intercepts the warm airmass across the eastern
Interior. Overall, there has been a slight upward trend in QPF
across inland areas compared to yesterday's forecast, and less for
the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutians. More seasonable
conditions are expected near the southern coast and the larger
cities, with highs generally in the 50s and 60s.
Hamrick
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
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