Kodiak Island

A Fairbanks man was bitten on the head by a bear Saturday night on Kodiak Island, but came away with only minor injuries according to Alaska State Troopers. According to a Monday AST dispatch, 48-year-old Rodd A. Moretz was approaching a brown bear he had just killed on the southern part of the island at about 6:30 p.m. when he walked past a bear den, from which he was charged by a Kodiak brown bear. “Moretz tried to evade the charging bear; however, the bear pounced on him and both rolled down a hill approximately 50 feet,” troopers wrote.

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.

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.

A warm southeasterly flow from the SE Panhandle through Southcentral and into the Southwest, will continue to bring above-average temperatures.  Bering Sea low pressure is weakening and being absorbed into a trough over the Gulf of Alaska.  An emerging area of low pressure over the North Pacific is bringing heavy rain to the Pacific Northwest coast and coastal British Columbia.  It is moving north and will rotate through the Gulf into the...

It has been 48 years since the Good Friday Earthquake that struck Alaska on March 27, 1964 -- but Tay Thomas remembers it vividly. Thomas was at her Turnagain home with her two children when she felt the first rumble; her instincts told her to head outside, and that's what she did. "The ground had started shaking and we were flung to the ground by the shaking, it was so hard. We just couldn't stand," Thomas said. Thomas watched as her home crumbled. The cliff that her house sat on broke off. She says she felt oddly calm as she and her children were also carried toward the water.

A flat, zonal flow has developed for the southern half of the state.  Weak disturbances are riding along this flow from west to east over the Aleutians and the Gulf of Alaska.  These are not storms to be concerned with.  Winds will generally be light, as will the snowfall.  1 to 3 inches is possible for areas of Southeast and Southcentral.  However, many locations will get less than an inch.  Warmer temps and rain is the threat for the southern...

Several areas of low pressure embedded within and rotating through an upper level trough will impact the state all weekend long.  Warm, subtropical air is being draw up over the Pacific into southern Alaska, and along with it, rain and snow showers.  While rain will be the more likely scenario of the Aleutians, Kodiak Island, PWS, and the Southeast Panhandle, snow will mix in during the early morning hours.  Snow showers are possible along the...

The Kalakala, a historic ferry which has plied the waters of Puget Sound and was later used by Alaska fish processors on Kodiak Island, is up for sale - for only one dollar.  More about that later.  But first, let's retrace the Kalakala's colorful history.  There are many nuggets to mine on www.kalakala.org .  But here are a few. The Kalakala was so sleek and futuristic, you'd never suspect that it was built on the hull of another ferry,...

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.