High Wind — City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska

2026-01-13 · City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska

Event narrative

The City and Borough of Wrangell notified the community of a known power outage affecting the southern portion of Zimovia Highway at 404pm. Peak wind measured at the Marine Exchange station at the Harbor was 46mph at 637pm, and the peak wind measured at the airport was 40mph at 541pm. A social media comment noted their home weather station peaked at 55mph.

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 1316711. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.