Sitka battens hatches for hurricane winds

Greg Reynolds looks out from the wheelhouse of his 40-foot liveaboard, Jenny Lynn, tied up on the outside of ANB Harbor this morning. Reynolds, who has lived through hurricanes in Florida, has doubled up his mooring lines in preparation for today’s storm. The boat is in a vulnerable spot in Sitka Channel; 60 mph wind gusts last week broke one of his lines. (By James Poulson / Daily Sitka Sentinel)

By Daily Sitka Sentinel staff

Sitka was under a high wind warning this afternoon, with sustained winds of 35 mph gusting to 60 mph and seas of more than 30 feet in the National Weather Service's forecast, brought on by a hurricane force low pressure system.

Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Garmon said in an 11 a.m. phone call with the Sentinel that intense winds swirling around the low pressure system could push over trees and cause damage to structures in Sitka.

The wind warning was extended into this evening.

"The low is going to come in very close to Sitka,” Garmon said this morning. “Our concern with that is there’s an area of 65 mph to almost 80 mph winds that’s kind of wrapping around that low.”

Intense gusts were expected to reach Sitka beginning by about 1 p.m., with sustained winds of 35 to 45 mph anticipated to continue as the system moves in, Garmon said.

Around 1 p.m., the NWS doppler radar showed gusts of 70 knots, or about 80 mph, blowing at 400 feet above Biorka Island near Sitka.

“The higher winds are aloft,” Garmon said at about 1:30 p.m. today. “Right now the potential is there for these higher winds to mix down.”

Winds in Sitka came from the southeast this morning, and were forecast to begin blowing from the southwest once the low pressure system came ashore.

Damaging winds could affect the area of Sitka southward to the central sections of Prince of Wales Island, Garmon said.

Some portions of southern Southeast, such as the west coast of Prince of Wales Island, saw thunder and lightning this morning.

Sun shone to the west of Sitka around 11 a.m.; Garmon said that could be a sign of the low pressure system approaching.

“The low pressure system itself is about 45 miles wide – there’s not going to be a lot of wind in the center,” he said. “It’s very much what we see in a hurricane.”

At 11:20 a.m. the low pressure system was about 120 miles offshore of Sitka, moving in from the southwest.

NWS models showed hurricane-force winds extending about 60 miles east and 80 miles southeast of the low pressure system, Garmon said.

“It’s a large low, and some of those models that you’ll see on some apps (such as the Windy app) show the system being a lot tighter than it actually is.”

He said that throughout the storm people should pay close attention to their surroundings, and secure anything that’s loose or wind-sensitive. “If you’ve got a boat in the harbor, make sure that you’ve got it tied properly for a storm,” he said.

The Sitka harbor department notified harbor users by email Thursday afternoon, and issued a public reminder to pump boats, secure loose items, and secure moorage lines. Deputy Harbor Master Mark Hodges said the department is fully staffed and prepared to respond to possible boat or harbor emergencies.

• This article was originally published by the Daily Sitka Sentinel.