Haines’ September was the driest month on record—depending on where the data was recorded.
Using data from the airport weather station, NOAA meteorologists in Juneau measured .03 inches of precipitation in Haines for the entire month of September—all of which fell on Sept. 23. The previous record for the least amount of rainfall in September was .36 inches in 1934.
Average September rainfall for Haines is 6.23 inches—marking this year’s .03 inches as considerably below normal, NOAA meteorologist Nicole Ferrin said.
Jim Green, Haines’ local weather observer for NOAA, has recorded different measurements, however. He measured .75 inches, although some of that rainfall fell during the morning hours on Aug. 31.
Green said the airport’s instrumentation is automated and there’s nobody to watch over it or to see if the spout is obstructed. “I have a standard rain gauge and I check it every day. This station is designed to track climate trends in the actual weather. If you’re going to put the two up against each other, [my] climate station should carry more weight.”
Green said it’s also possible there were different rain events at the two locations. Green’s house is one mile south of the airport. “It’s no doubt it was way drier. There’s almost no months in any record in that area at all under an inch or two,” Green said. “It’s very rare to be under two inches in September.”
Juneau’s NOAA meteorologist Tom Ainsworth said he was surprised to learn about the discrepancy between Green’s observations and the weather station at the airport. “I checked with Haines customs, they also report every day, and they had 0.08 for the month,” Ainsworth said. “When you consider the Chilkat Valley, it is startling to see the difference in the rain amounts over such a short distance.”
He said the prevalence of micro climates in Southeast likely plays a role in the discrepancies. Earlier this week at the weather office in Juneau it was 30 degrees at the same time it was 52 degrees in downtown Juneau, Ainsworth said.
Haines also saw the lowest water year on record, an annual measurement recorded from Oct. 1 to Sep. 30 of each year. On average, Haines gets 48.15 inches of rain. In the latest water year, Haines received 30.14 inches of rain.
The average high temperature for September was 62.8 degrees. The record for Haines is 63.5 set in 1975. September’s average temperature was 52.5 degrees compared to a normal of 50.2, according to weather service data.
The southern part of the panhandle is in a severe drought, Ainsworth said. From Frederick Sound to Haines is considered abnormally dry.
Ainsworth said the “stubborn dryness” is the result of a high pressure system that’s locked into a pattern that’s deflected other weather systems.
AP&T power operations manager Darren Belisle said despite the dry conditions, the lake providing hydro power to Haines and Skagway is “full and spilling” due to glacial runoff that he says contributes to more than half of the lake’s water.
Ainsworth said the summer has been much warmer than average. The overall average temperature this July in Haines was 60.5 degrees, about 3 degrees warmer than average.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game sport fish biologist Rich Chapell said he’s never seen the water so low at this time of year. He said he’s usually able to wade across a section of the Kelsall River by the last week of October. He can already wade across it as he conducts coho salmon surveys.
“The water’s pretty low and clear so it’s pretty good fishing, but I do worry about their ability to get on to the spawning grounds,” Chapell said. “If the water’s super low in the spawning grounds they’ll get eaten by bears before they can spawn.”
Chapell said because of low water, he’s unable to access the Tahini River where he needs to conduct index counts on coho to estimate escapement.