Sunshine returns to parts of Southcentral, helping to boost the delayed green-up process

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Welcome back in on this Thursday morning. Well, some of the clouds have gone and we were enjoying some of that [music] the peaks of sunshine yesterday Bailey and with it some warmth. That was really nice.

[00:00:10]>> Oh, it was so nice. I feel like we're long overdue for conditions like that.

[00:00:14]But good news, you can expect some of these conditions to continue throughout the day today. Temperatures currently sitting in the low 40s across most of South Central sitting in the mid-40s for most of Southeast and even dipping back down into areas um down into the 30s for areas out in to the west 30° into areas like Gamble. But for Anchorage, we're actually looking ahead to these warmer temperatures and it has been so long since we felt these kind of warm temperatures. Yesterday, we hit 56° and that hasn't happened since October 8th.

[00:00:45]So, we are long overdue and that was also marking its sixth latest 56° mark on record. Now, as we look ahead for the next couple of days, you notice we're trending slightly below normal average temperatures for this time of year around 55°. So, we're not that much below normal at we at least we're still in the 50s uh but we are going to continue that trend throughout the day today with high temperatures in Anchorage reaching up to 53° and near 60° into Fairbanks. Some parts of town will see that 60° mark, but overall at the airport we are expecting that temperature at 59°.

[00:01:21]Now, as we look ahead, it's important to be aware of our flood watches across the state especially as breakup season is in full swing. We've got a few areas on the map including Fort Yukon, areas like Bethel and McGrath where we are monitoring this flood watch. Now, one specific area of concern is Stevens Village. You can see that highlighted right here on the map. That tiny little green dot uh within the bigger green dot, but this is going to stay in effect through tonight and even into tomorrow morning. Now, for areas like Stevens Village, we're already monitoring this water staying over about 5 ft. Uh water levels actually rose about 5 ft since yesterday and that means even more is likely due today. The ice jam possibility is very high and this will continue into tomorrow morning, but again that is along the Yukon River at Stevens Village. So stay aware of ice and river conditions in your area especially if you live near any waterways or especially for low-lying areas. Now as we look ahead in our forecast today areas like Southeast can expect a little bit more of these showers to continue throughout the day.

[00:02:24]Very light rain is expected mostly in the morning hours, but those isolated showers will continue into the afternoon for the interior mostly cloudy skies expected, but for Anchorage and for South Central we're starting to clear up just a little bit more. We'll see some of that sunshine throughout the day in Anchorage and into the Mat-Su Valley, but showers are still expected for areas like Seward and just the eastern coastline of the Kenai Peninsula. Valdez and Cordova do have a chance of seeing some of those lighter showers mostly for the afternoon, but one thing we're paying attention to is this storm along the Aleutians. That means we're going to see an increase in these wind speeds along the Aleutian chain as well as some of that rain beginning to move in and this is some heavy rain. So be ready for that if you live across the Aleutian chain. For today across the entire Southeast region mostly cloudy skies some of that light rain expected with temperatures sitting in the 50s even reaching 60 in Skagway. Meanwhile into the interior mostly cloudy skies some of those scattered showers expected for areas like Tok with highs near 60° and into South Central where are seeing a little bit more of that sunny sky rolling on through with some of those coastal areas with a little bit more of that wet weather. Mostly cloudy with some lighter showers for the Copper River Basin very similar conditions expected into the Mat-Su Valley with winds up to about 30 gusting about 30 mph and for Anchorage high temperatures near 53° today.