Flood — Taiya Inlet, Alaska

2015-09-09 to 2015-09-10 · near Skagway, Taiya Inlet, Alaska

Event narrative

The heavy to moderate rainfall began in the early morning hours of September 10th as a warm front moved over northern Southeast Alaska. Another warm front moved over the area in the late afternoon and the cold front was into Canada by the early morning on the 11th. Rainfall amounts were pretty impressive for the driest area in Southeast Alaska with three quarters to one and a half inch of rain at sea level station with about three inches at high elevations. The Taiya River that goes through the Klondike National Park along the Chilkoot trail continued to rise through the 10th from the persistent moderate rain fall. The river went over minor flood stage in the early evening on the 10th and crested above moderate flood stage at seventeen point thirty-two feet in the early morning hours of the 11th. Once the heavy rain stopped after the cold front passed over the are the river slowly receded below flood stage by the early afternoon on the 11th. The Chilkoot trail was flooded with significant amount of water over the trail from ankle to thigh deep in places along the lower portions of the trail near the river.

Wider weather episode

An anomalously strong trough of low pressure moved out of the Southern Bering Sea and into the Gulf of Alaska. This trough dug into the north pacific and was able to tap into sub-tropical moisture. In doing so the front advected very high precipitable water over the eastern gulf and Southeast Alaska. The first warm front moved over the northern inner channels on the early morning of September 10th. Another wave developed along the front and moved over the in the area in the afternoon into the overnight hours. The front along with amount of moisture available produced heavy rain for 36 hours and caused moderate flooding along the Chilkoot trail near Skagway.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (59.5024, -135.3589)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 602683. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.