City Forecast Discussion: Juneau, Alaska

One of the most beautiful cities due to is location near 5,000 ft mountains, glaciers, and beautiful cool Alaskan waters.  The most northern city in the forecast contest was, as you can guess, the hardest to forecast for.  It was one of those cities that everything possible that has been mentioned in previous cities played a factor in temperatures, wind, and precipitation and at the same time those things didn't play a factor.  The image above shows downtown Juneau which is a little ways away from the airport which is at the foot of the distant mountains in the background.

Starting off with the temperatures, they typically don't vary from day to day with stable conditions in Juneau.  A typical range from the high and low is 5 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit.  When low pressures and fronts are passing through the area then all bets are off.  Winds play a big factor because if the are from the any direction from the NE to the E then the winds are coming down the mountains which would result in some warming of the air, but due to the mountains being covered in snow and a glacier to the north of the airport that just keeps temperatures rather steady.  If winds come from a westerly direction then they are coming off water that is sitting around the low to mid 40's.  Winds from the south come off a mountain over water and then onto land.  Needless to say when trying to contribute direction of wind and temperature with Juneau it's just too hard to figure out.  Clouds have a big factor, but like wind it's not a good indicator of how much it will warm or cool.  One night it was clear with snow on the ground and you would think the temperature would drop with calm conditions.  Well, the temperature slowly fell throughout the night with no mixing of the air.  Strange huh?

Wind is a whole different story.  Juneau is known to have very gusty winds and its reputation still holds, but trying to forecast how high it will get is nearly impossible.  Stations around the Juneau International Airport would gust to 40 or 50 mph and the airport could get winds of 12 or 13 mph and the opposite can happen too.  The terrain has a lot to deal with that, but how can you see that to forecast it is hard.  Finally, precipitation is just as difficult as the other things.  Due to some mountains reaching as high as 3,000 to 4,000 feet south of the airport and a number of large high elevated islands west of it, it really makes a huge impact on how much precipitation falls.  Another thing is the precipitation, at this time of year, is typically a mix of rain and snow and accumulates very slowly if any when it does that.

With all of this in mind and keeping in mind that some models have a hard time forecasting for Juneau since it rests on the outskirts of their range, it is truly a diffucult city to forecast whether you live there all your life or have never set foot in the city.  Fortunately, forecasting for this city is done and now on a break before the next forecast city starts.  This city is primarily known as either The Flagship City or The Gem City and rests on one the five Great Lakes.