ALASKA EXTENDED FORECAST DISCUSSION NWS WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER COLLEGE PARK MD 140 PM EDT WED MAR 19 2014 VALID 12Z SUN MAR 23 2014 - 12Z THU MAR 27 2014 HIGH TIMES OVER ALASKA APPEAR TO CONTINUE NEXT WEEK. THE PATTERN STARTS WITH A REX BLOCK... HIGH OVER LOW... SIGNATURE WITH ANOTHER UPSTREAM UPPER LOW OVER KAMCHATKA STUCK IN PLACE. THE MODELS/ENSEMBLES HAVE COME INTO SOMEWHAT BETTER AGREEMENT ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHERN UPPER LOW ALONG 40-45N... KEEPING IT MOSTLY SOUTH OF 50N THROUGH THE PERIOD. EARLIER GFS/GEFS RUNS HAVE EASED OFF DISPLACING THE UPPER HIGH FROM THE NORTH SLOPE WHICH MAY STILL ALLOW A VERY WEAK MID-LEVEL FEATURE TO RETROGRADE WESTWARD THROUGH THE INTERIOR BUT NOT NEARLY AS STRONG AS THE UKMET DEPICTED. PATTERN SHOULD TRANSLATE INTO A MORE ZONAL FLOW ALONG/WEST OF THE DATELINE BY MIDWEEK NEXT WEEK AS THE SOUTHERN UPPER LOW MOVES INTO THE CONUS PAC NW... THOUGH MODEST RIDGING SHOULD REMAIN OVER THE BULK OF THE STATE. FAVORED A BLEND BASED MOSTLY ON THE 00Z ECENS MEAN... WITH ADDED DETAILS FROM THE 12Z GFS AND 00Z ECMWF... WHICH WAVERED ON EITHER SIDE OF THE ECENS MEAN. THIS WAS OVERALL A BIT SLOWER WITH THE PROGRESSION OF THE OCCLUDED FRONT TO THE SOUTH GIVEN THE SHARPER UPPER PATTERN. CONFIDENCE IS NEAR TO A BIT ABOVE AVERAGE. FRACASSO