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January 9, 2026
Alaska Beacon
By Yereth Rosen
(Alaska Beacon) — After enduring weeks of record-breaking cold and snowfall that buried Alaska’s capital city, taxing local infrastructure and services, residents of Juneau are now bracing for an abrupt change to rain that will bring new hazards.
The City and Borough of Juneau and the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska issued a joint disaster declaration late Tuesday in advance of an incoming atmospheric river that is expected to create flooding, avalanche risks and possibly landslide risks. Gov. Mike Dunleavy followed that with a verbal disaster declaration that Juneau officials say will provide quicker access to state help to prepare for and respond to impacts of the coming atmospheric river.
Atmospheric rivers are elongated bands of heat and moisture that move north from more southern latitudes. They can dump vast amounts of rain and sometimes snow, and they have triggered deadly landslides in Southeast Alaska and other mountainous areas.
The coming atmospheric river is expected to bring more snow to Juneau at first, but that is expected to change to rain by early Friday, said Nicole Ferrin, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Ferrin and other officials spoke at a Juneau news conference held late Wednesday by local and tribal officials.
The expected rains will come on top of snow levels that have already strained building roofs, made roadways impassable and caused other disruptions. Officials warned they could trigger lower-elevation floods from clogged waterways and storm drains and various types of slides at higher elevations.
“This storm and the atmospheric river that’s headed our way on top of this historic, unprecedented amount of snowfall that we’ve had does come with an increased chance for landslides and avalanches,” Ryan O’Shaughnessy, emergency programs manager for the City and Borough of Juneau, said at the news conference.
The city may issue evacuation notices if they are needed in certain parts of town, he said.
Dunleavy’s verbal disaster declaration adds to a series of other recent state disaster declarations. On Monday, he issued a declaration for a December power outage in the Yukon-Kuskokwim village of Napaskiak. On Dec. 10, he issued a disaster declaration for a wind storm that caused widespread damage in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. And he and the federal government issued disaster declarations in October for the damages caused to Western Alaska by the remnants of Typhoon Halong.
The new state, local and tribal disaster declarations are currently only for the City and Borough of Juneau. However, almost all of Southeast Alaska is under a flood watch from early Friday to late Saturday, with additional high wind watches also applicable in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.
Ferrin said the deep snowpack in the mountains around Juneau will likely absorb whatever rain is dumped by the atmospheric river.
That is not the case in more southern parts of the Southeast Alaska panhandle, where there is little to no snow on the ground, she said.
Those areas face some different types of flood dangers, including the possibility of landslides, she said.
The atmospheric river heading to Alaska will bring a little bit of snow to the more southern parts of the panhandle, but that will change to rain more quickly than in Juneau, she said. Rainfall in those areas is expected to total 2 to 4 inches or possibly more, she said.
Combined with expected high winds and flooding, there are landslide risks in the southern part of Southeast Alaska that have been noted by the National Weather Service, Ferrin said.
“We will continue to monitor any potentials for other impacts throughout the event and coordinate with the emergency managers in the southern Panhandle for what needs or any impacts that they’re seeing on the ground in real time,” she said.
Alaska Beacon
Alaska Beacon is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government. Alaska, like many states, has seen a decline in the coverage of state news. We aim to reverse that.
Alaska Beacon
By Yereth Rosen
(Alaska Beacon) — After enduring weeks of record-breaking cold and snowfall that buried Alaska’s capital city, taxing local infrastructure and services, residents of Juneau are now bracing for an abrupt change to rain that will bring new hazards.
The City and Borough of Juneau and the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska issued a joint disaster declaration late Tuesday in advance of an incoming atmospheric river that is expected to create flooding, avalanche risks and possibly landslide risks. Gov. Mike Dunleavy followed that with a verbal disaster declaration that Juneau officials say will provide quicker access to state help to prepare for and respond to impacts of the coming atmospheric river.
Atmospheric rivers are elongated bands of heat and moisture that move north from more southern latitudes. They can dump vast amounts of rain and sometimes snow, and they have triggered deadly landslides in Southeast Alaska and other mountainous areas.
The coming atmospheric river is expected to bring more snow to Juneau at first, but that is expected to change to rain by early Friday, said Nicole Ferrin, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Ferrin and other officials spoke at a Juneau news conference held late Wednesday by local and tribal officials.
The expected rains will come on top of snow levels that have already strained building roofs, made roadways impassable and caused other disruptions. Officials warned they could trigger lower-elevation floods from clogged waterways and storm drains and various types of slides at higher elevations.
“This storm and the atmospheric river that’s headed our way on top of this historic, unprecedented amount of snowfall that we’ve had does come with an increased chance for landslides and avalanches,” Ryan O’Shaughnessy, emergency programs manager for the City and Borough of Juneau, said at the news conference.
The city may issue evacuation notices if they are needed in certain parts of town, he said.
Dunleavy’s verbal disaster declaration adds to a series of other recent state disaster declarations. On Monday, he issued a declaration for a December power outage in the Yukon-Kuskokwim village of Napaskiak. On Dec. 10, he issued a disaster declaration for a wind storm that caused widespread damage in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. And he and the federal government issued disaster declarations in October for the damages caused to Western Alaska by the remnants of Typhoon Halong.
The new state, local and tribal disaster declarations are currently only for the City and Borough of Juneau. However, almost all of Southeast Alaska is under a flood watch from early Friday to late Saturday, with additional high wind watches also applicable in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.
Ferrin said the deep snowpack in the mountains around Juneau will likely absorb whatever rain is dumped by the atmospheric river.
That is not the case in more southern parts of the Southeast Alaska panhandle, where there is little to no snow on the ground, she said.
Those areas face some different types of flood dangers, including the possibility of landslides, she said.
The atmospheric river heading to Alaska will bring a little bit of snow to the more southern parts of the panhandle, but that will change to rain more quickly than in Juneau, she said. Rainfall in those areas is expected to total 2 to 4 inches or possibly more, she said.
Combined with expected high winds and flooding, there are landslide risks in the southern part of Southeast Alaska that have been noted by the National Weather Service, Ferrin said.
“We will continue to monitor any potentials for other impacts throughout the event and coordinate with the emergency managers in the southern Panhandle for what needs or any impacts that they’re seeing on the ground in real time,” she said.
Alaska Beacon
Alaska Beacon is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government. Alaska, like many states, has seen a decline in the coverage of state news. We aim to reverse that.
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