Southcentral Alaska's rainy weather is expected to hang around a bit longer, a meteorologist said Tuesday, as rising river banks prompted officials to issue a flood warning for the Yentna River, where cabins were being inundated with water.
On Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service put out a special weather statement saying that streams in the Susitna Valley – including Talkeetna, Willow and Cantwell – would likely be near bankfull through Wednesday morning.
The Yentna River had reached minor flood stage Tuesday afternoon, and water was inundating cabins at McDougall Lodge, the NWS said in a flood warning. The warning is in place for the Yentna River until 9:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Rainfall in the higher elevations of the Alaska Range and Talkeetna Mountains is driving the rising water levels, said David Kochevar, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Anchorage office.
Those higher elevation areas had gotten up to an inch and a half of rain – not a whole lot, Kochevar said. But with a wet weather pattern holding steady for the more than a week, that water was flowing downstream.
"The ground is pretty saturated, and the water really doesn't have anywhere else to go," Kochevar said.
Cloudy and rainy weather is expected to hang around Southcentral Alaska through Friday, although heavy rainfall is not expected, Kochevar said.
Another wet weather pattern is heading toward Southcentral, Kochevar said, as remnants of Hurricane Hector move across the Pacific to Alaska's shores. That weather pattern is expected to arrive Saturday and continue into Sunday.