High Wind — Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska

2026-01-13 · Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska

Event narrative

All of the Ketchikan area saw high winds during the afternoon and early evening of the 13th. This included multiple large trees down in multiple locations, several over roadways in the northern part of town and downed power lines according to social media posts from the local power company. The Ketchikan COOP at the northern end of town noted damaging wind in both their afternoon reports for the 13th and 14th, including a power outage of over 5 hours the evening of the 13th.

The Marine Exchange station at Ward Cove was the first to measured high winds at 244pm with a peak gusts of 62mph. Salmon Landing saw high wind gusts last the latest, until 806pm, including a peak gusts of 76mph at 519pm. Peak winds in Saxman topped out at 71mph at 630pm. The airport ASOS measured a peak gust of 64mph at 713pm.

Wider weather episode

After an active period of multiple systems moving through the area bringing periods of high winds to the southern panhandle, a stronger system arrived bringing high winds to majority of the Panhandle on the 13th into the 14th. This low center tracked northward through the eastern gulf, while deepening, along with a storm force front. The low center moved onshore along the NE Gulf Coast in vicinity of Yakutat overnight Tuesday the 13th. As the low jumped inland, winds spiked up through the inner channels, lasting longest for the Skagway area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1316703. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.