Alaska Extended Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service College Park MD
744 PM EDT Wed Sep 24 2025
Valid 12Z Sun 28 Sep 2025 - 12Z Thu 02 Oct 2025
***Unsettled weather pattern continues for southern and southeast
Alaska with multiple rounds of rain and mountain snow***
...General Overview...
An amplified shortwave dropping southeastward from eastern
Siberia is forecast to cross the southwestern mainland and re-
energize the existing Gulf low for the weekend. The next system
will likely approach the Aleutians going into Sunday and Monday,
and an arctic trough is likely to persist for the northern third
of the state as well. Meanwhile, an upper ridge axis likely
extends north to the Bering Strait by the middle of next week.
...Guidance Evaluation/Preferences...
The 12Z models feature reasonably good agreement on the synoptic
scale for the weekend, but model spread increases substantially
going into the middle of next week with incoming shortwave energy
from the western Pacific. Given the increased uncertainty in the
deterministic guidance, more reliance was placed on the ensemble
means for this forecast package by early-mid next week,
accounting for about 60% of the blend by next Wednesday-Thursday.
...Weather/Hazards Highlights...
The next low pressure system will bring the likelihood for
more unsettled weather for southern coastal areas of Alaska and
the southeast Panhandle this weekend, bringing periods of rain
and mountain snow from the Kenai Peninsula and points eastward.
The next system to watch will track close to the Aleutians on
Monday, and this could be the eventual remnants of what is
currently Typhoon Neoguri. In terms of temperatures, colder
conditions will be commonplace across most of the mainland, with
subfreezing overnight lows widespread across the Interior, and 10s
near the Brooks Range. The greater Anchorage area may have
overnight lows that approach the freezing mark at times, and
locations near the Pacific coast in the low-mid 40s.
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