The National Weather Service (NWS) has developed a tool for local authorities to assess the risk of ongoing work in the Ketchikan landslide zone. The color-coded forecast matrix chart assigns hazard levels based on the weather conditions for a three-day period.
Nicole Ferrin is an NWS warning coordination meteorologist who helped develop the tool.
“The original purpose of it was to inform the emergency responders of when it would be safe or not to work in the slide area,” Ferrin said of the forecast matrix.
Ferrin said the chart has thresholds that are specific to the needs of the Department of Transportation and other workers in the area. But she said it’s not the best tool for the general public to monitor hazard levels.
For one thing, it’s specific to the forecast for the area of the Aug. 25 slide, so if you live anywhere else in town, it won’t apply. It’s also temporary – the NWS will stop updating it at some point.
But residents can always find a detailed forecast for any pinpointed location in the country through the NWS website, Ferrin explained. She recommends heading to weather.gov/juneau, which covers Southeast’s region-wide forecast. Once you navigate to the page for your closest weather station, you can zoom in and out using the small map on the right and select the extended forecast for any given location.
“You can click on the map for your exact location and get your point forecast,” Ferrin said. “And on our website, if there’s any significant weather in the forecast, we’ll have it highlighted at the top in red.”
Those red “Hazardous Weather Conditions” warnings break down in detail what sort of weather is coming, who it might affect, and general precautions to take. There’s also an hourly weather forecast for those curious how much rainfall is expected at their home.
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