September winds in Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska may increase going into the weekend, but National Weather Service forecaster Christian Cassell says they won’t reach the intensity of last fall’s big storm.
However, the heavy rain the region has been experiencing over the past month will get heavier late tonight. Cassell says the areas of most concern are Valdez and Cordova. He says rain will move in after midnight, but be especially heavy tomorrow afternoon.
“The good news is that it looks to only be like a six hour period of really intense rain, but it looks very intense,” Cassell said. “I mean we could be talking in a six hour period, in the mountains above Valdez and Cordova, six to ten inches and in Valdez and Cordova itself, maybe three to four inches in six hours, that’s pretty intense rainfall rates.”
Cassell says that rain will run off into swollen creeks and rivers, increasing the potential for floods.
Lori Townsend is the chief editor, senior vice president of journalism and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452. Read more about Lori here.
