Kodiak Island

by The Associated Press Tuesday, June 8, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A man is missing from a ship 775 miles southwest of Alaska's Kodiak Island. The Coast Guard says it searched waters for a man overboard from the 751-foot bulk carrier, Yasa Fortune, a Marshall Island-flagged vessel, Tuesday morning, but they have since suspended the search. The Coast Guard received a report of the missing man at 2:15 a.m. Tuesday and issued a marine information broadcast requesting the assistance of vessels in the area.

A ridge of high pressure building just to the south of the state will provide more sunshine for much of Southwest and Southcentral Alaska again today.  Highs will range from the mid 40s to the low 50s.  Clouds will hug the mountains with periods of flurries.  The SE Panhandle will be wet and windy this morning.  An area of low pressure will weaken today but also stale out over the region, so while it will not be as windy this afternoon, rain...

There are three areas of low pressure that will bring rain and snow to the state.  One is south of Kodiak Island.  Rain and early morning snow will fall from Kodiak, eastward along the Gulf of Alaska coastline all the way into SE.  This storm is relatively weak and will stay too far south to bring precipitation into Anchorage and the Valley, although clouds will increase by evening. Another low centered over the Bering Strait is not strong, but it is bringing snow to the western Interior and Bristol Bay along a trough axis.  Snow may accululate up to 4 inches, then taper off tonight.  Scattered snow showers are likely over NW AK and the North Slope, as well.

Weak low pressure systems are scattered around Alaska.  Lows are centered over the Interior, just south of the SE Panhandle, the central Aleutians, and south of Kodiak Island.  Showers have been scattered in the Kotzebue and Faribanks areas.  Look for partly to mostly cloudy skies and decreasing showers this morning then isolated showers later this afternoon.  Highs 40s NW Alaska with 60s and 70s Interior. Sunshine from Bethel to Aniak and Unalakleet will remain much of the day with coastal 50s and inland 60s to near 70.  A few clouds will crop up by afternoon along the coast.

by Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press Monday, July 12, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- American Airlines says one of its jets made an emergency landing on an island in Alaska's Aleutians after a fire warning light went off. Company spokesman Tim Smith says Flight 175, en route from Dallas-Fort Worth to Tokyo, landed safely on Shemya Island shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday. But it turned out there was no fire, despite the warning light from a cargo compartment of the Boeing 777. Smith says the 197 passengers were evacuated from the plane while the cargo was removed.

Sunshine is likely in Southwest, including the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, the West Coast, all of the Interior and Southcentral.  The culprit is a strong upper level ridge of high pressure that has built in gradually over the Bering and is now encompassing most of the mainland.  A few isolated showers will linger this morning then try to redevelop this evening over the Alaska and Wrangell-St. Elias ranges.  But aside from that, totally dry weather and mild temps are expected.

Crews have reestablished tow lines for an unmanned Shell drill unit and said Monday afternoon that it will tow it to Port Hobron on the southeast side of Kodiak Island when weather conditions improve. The Alert, a tug boat from Prince William Sound, secured a tow line around early Monday morning and hours later the Aiviq, a vessel being used for towing, also restored a tow line to the Kulluk. Crews have remained roughly 20 miles south of Kodiak for the past few days. On Sunday, tow lines from the Aiviq and the Nanuq to the Kulluk were lost due to weather conditions.

Claiming it had “met its objectives” in responding to the New Year's Eve grounding of the Shell Oil drilling rig Kulluk near Kodiak Island, the Unified Command formed after the incident announced that it was standing down effective Wednesday afternoon. The command's primary elements included the U.S. Coast Guard, Shell, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Kulluk owner Noble Drilling. Numerous other groups and stakeholders were also represented in the organization, which handled the response to the Kulluk's Dec. 31 grounding in Sitkalidak Island's Ocean Bay. “Agency representatives will return to their normal roles and responsibilities,” Capt.

The U.S. Coast Guard is meeting Wednesday evening on Kodiak Island with a group of Russian Border Patrol officials. The Russians are here to renew a treaty that provides for cooperation between the Coast Guard and Russian law enforcement in the Bering Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The need for such cooperation has grown in recent years: with Arctic waters warming, 7,000 vessels now travel the Bering Sea each year. Some of those vessels come to illegally harvest fish.

A lull in the weather can be expected most of the day in Southcentral today, as one low pressure disturbance heads east into Canada and another moves through the Aleutians.  A few burst of snow are possible early in the Valley and throughout PWS before skies partially clear and slightly cooler and more stable air works in from the Southwest. This lull will be short-lived.  A rich flow of moisture and warmer air will ride a strong jet through the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and the Kenai Peninsula bringing rain, snow, gusty winds, and balmy winter temperatures.  The warmest air should stay to our south in Anchorage, but highs near freezing are still likely with light precipitation later tonight and tomorrow.