Kodiak Island

Southeasterly flow over the Gulf of Alaska around an area of low pressure will keep clouds and showers around today for the SE Panhandle, PWS, the eastern Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak, and the Alaska Peninsula.  The low is centered south of Kodiak Island.  Areas south and east of mountain ranges (within upsloped regions) will pick up the lions share of the moisture.  This includes Ketchikan, Cordova, Seward, and Whittier. Areas west of the mountains (downsloped regions) are in for mostly to partly cloudy skies and mainly dry conditions.  This includes Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer, Kenai and Soldotna.

Let's do yesterday all over again. Sunshine and highs in the the 40s are back for the Interior and Southcentral.  Mostly cloudy skies and isolated showers will continue over SE.  It will be warm again today with upper 40s and 50s across the Panhandle. A strong 980 mb low is south of the Aleutian Chain this morning.  Clouds and moisture are rotating around it to the north into SW Alaska.  Rain and snow will remain throughout the day in the Aleutians, Kodiak Island, and AK Peninsula.  Showers will end for Bristol Bay and the lower Kuskokwim by late morning.  Highs across the West will stay in the 30s to near 40. The low currently over the north Pacific is moving to the east/southeast, away from mainland Alaska.

Alaska State Troopers say two 19-year-old Larsen Bay men have been arrested after they allegedly vandalized a warehouse overnight Thursday by driving a forklift through the wall. According to a Monday AST dispatch, Pete Muller and Derick Hochmuth face charges of second-degree burglary and two counts of third-degree criminal mischief. Troopers were informed at about 10:45 a.m. Friday of the break-in at the Icicle Seafoods cannery in Larsen Bay, on Kodiak Island, which had occurred between 10 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday.

The Coast Guard helped rescued five people stranded on a life raft after their pleasure boat sank Sunday about 85 miles north of Kodiak Island.  The Coast Guard took a mayday call by VHF radio late Sunday morning from the 60-foot Nordic Mistress - a motor yacht available to rent for luxury cruising in the Prince William Sound and the Kodiak Islands.  A helicopter crew from Kodiak launched at 11:50 a.m. and the Coast...

The FBI is looking for information on two vehicles that may have been involved in the fatal shootings last week of two Coast Guard members on Kodiak Island. FBI spokesperson Darrin Jones says investigators would like to speak with anyone who may have seen the vehicles -- a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck and a blue 2001 Honda CRV - traveling on Rezanof Road, Anton Larson Road, near the State Airport or Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak anytime on Thursday, April 12 or before noon on Friday, August 13. Agents with the bureau recently searched the home of James Wells, a colleague of Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Petty Officer Richard Belisle.

FBI and Coast Guard investigators want to speak with anyone in Alaska who may have sold, traded or transferred several models of .44-caliber revolver during the last year, in connection with last month's double homicide at a Coast Guard communications station on Kodiak Island. In a press release Tuesday, FBI spokesperson Eric Gonzales mentions three revolver types of interest: Smith and Wesson Models 29 and 629, as well as any .44 magnum Taurus model. The information is being sought in the April 12 shootings of Coast Guardsmen Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Petty Officer Richard Belisle.

Low pressure is centered over the northern Gulf. Showers ahead of it in Southeast are wrapping around the low into Southcentral Tuesday morning. The threat for snow, some of it moderate to heavy, will continue Tuesday for Prince William Sound and areas of the northern Panhandle. Otherwise, light showers will persist along Cook Inlet with breezy conditions and cold temperatures. An additional couple inches are possible from the Mat-Su through Anchorage and south toward Kenai and Soldotna.  The snow is very light, low-density snow and is easily suspended by traffic.

The Coast Guard suspended its search at 8 p.m. Sunday for a crewman reported to have gone overboard on a container ship 900 miles southeast of Kodiak Island. The Coast Guard said it had sent out a second aircrew Sunday. The search began Saturday. Two Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules airlane crews searchd an area covering more than 1,500 miles before the search was suspended. "The Coast Guard suspended the search because further searching for the man will not improve the probability of success," said Lt. j. g. Eddie Michno, District 17 search and rescue controller.  "Based on the information we received from the vessel the man's functional time in the water of that temperature was about eight hours.  This was based on wind and water temperatures only and did not include the six-foot to 10-foot seas encountered throughout the entire search.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday evening for a man overboard near an island south of Kodiak. Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley says the unidentified crewman was reported overboard from the fishing vessel Flying Ocean, 30 miles northwest of Sitkinak Island, just before 11 a.m. Thursday. The search was suspended at 9:37 p.m. Coast Guard assets committed to the search included the cutter Hickory as well as two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters and an HC-130 Hercules search plane.

A large upper level ridge has settled over the state providing sunshine and warming temperatures to all of the Interior and Southcentral regions.  Highs will range from the upper 60s around Fairbanks to the 50s around PWS and coastal Kenai Peninsula. Behind the ridge is a weak upper trough and surface disturbance.  It is nearly stationary over the Aleutian Islands.  A front is swinging through the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island this morning.  Along and behind it, rain showers have increased.  Rain is likely from Bristol Bay to Kodiak west into the Aleutians.  As a result, highs will stay in the 40s for most areas.