Flood — Taiya Inlet, Alaska

2022-10-17 · near Skagway, Taiya Inlet, Alaska

Event narrative

Very anomalously warm temperatures along with heavy rain moved into the northern inner channels of Southeast Alaska. This caused the Taiya River to rise at a very steep rate through the late evening hours of October 16th into the early morning hours on October 17th. The river was already running very high for this time of year and the ground was pretty saturated from previous atmospheric river events. The Taiya River went above minor flood stage of 16.5 feet by day break on October 17th before crest right at moderate flood stage of 17.0 feet. There was flooding over the lower portions of the Chilkoot trail but due to how late in the season this event was the impacts were minimal along with prior damage from previous record flooding events earlier in the month.

Wider weather episode

The region had been getting impacted with multiple atmospheric rivers throughout most of autumn. This led to above normal stream flows on most area rivers and streams. Another warm and moist atmospheric river lifted out of the north Pacific and transported subtropical moisture into southeast Alaska. The very complex terrain of the region produced heavy rain with amounts from 1 to 1.5 inches in 24 hours. This heavy rain along with the very warm temperatures at elevation increased the ice melt from the glaciers in the headwater of the Taiya River. The Taiya River was already near record streamflow for this time of year and with more runoff it river went over its banks and produced moderate flooding along the Taiya River in the morning hours of October 17th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (59.4892, -135.3402)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1061465. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.