Alaska Extended Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service College Park MD
743 PM EDT Fri Aug 8 2025
Valid 12Z Tue 12 Aug 2025 - 12Z Sat 16 Aug 2025
...General Overview...
A rather active weather pattern develops across much of western
Alaska and the Aleutians going into Tuesday and Wednesday. An
amplifying upper trough over the Bering, and two separate surface
lows ahead of it, will likely result in heavy rain from the
central Aleutians to the western Brooks Range. The southern low
crosses the southern mainland to the northern Gulf by Thursday,
and the northern low tracks near the Arctic Coast, with a cold
front crossing the Interior and North Slope region. A quieter
weather pattern should then settle in across most of the state by
the end of next week.
...Guidance Evaluation/Preferences...
The 12Z model guidance suite initially has some differences across
the Gulf region for Tuesday, with the GFS more amplified with the
upper trough reaching the British Columbia coast, but otherwise
decent agreement across most of the mainland. By Thursday, the CMC
becomes stronger with a second shortwave trough crossing the
Bering and likely becomes too strong over the Gulf by Friday.
Model spread becomes much worse by Friday night into Sunday across
most of the domain with large longitudinal differences in trough
placements, and therefore the ensemble means accounted for about
70% of the model blend by that time with low confidence.
...Weather/Hazards Highlights...
An incoming surface low from the Bering in combination with a cold
front approaching from eastern Siberia will result in an enhanced
fetch of moist southerly flow across western mainland Alaska early
next week. Moisture flux oriented towards the terrain across this
region will lead to heavier rainfall across portions of the Seward
Peninsula and extending north to the western Brooks Range, and a
heavy rainfall area has been added to the WPC hazards graphic for
the 12th and 13th where the best model signal is for the heaviest
rainfall. Elsewhere, moderate to locally heavy rainfall will also
be possible across portions of the central Aleutians and the
southwestern mainland. Improving weather conditions compared to
the short range period can be expected for southeast Alaska as the
rainfall becomes lighter on Thursday and then tapering off by
Wednesday. Temperatures should generally be within 10 degrees of
climatological averages for most areas next week.
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