What remains of Typhoon Bolaven is headed for Southeast Alaska this week, bringing rain and winds

A powerful typhoon that has been making its way through the Western Pacific Ocean is expected to reach Southeast Alaska early this week in a weakened state, bringing heavy rain and winds to much of the panhandle for several days, according to the National Weather Service.

Typhoon Bolaven, which at its peak intensity earlier this week was the earth’s second-strongest storm of 2023, has been slowly weakening as it has been traveling across the Pacific.

By the time it reaches Alaska, it is not expected to bring anything like its initial hurricane-level force, said Caleb Cravens, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Juneau office.

“By the time it gets to Alaska, it’s going to be just a normal fall storm,” he said.

Cravens said weather from Bolaven would likely last around 36 hours. On Saturday afternoon, it was southwest of the Aleutians and tracking east, and is expected to enter the Gulf of Alaska Monday night, he said.

“It’s moving pretty fast,” he said. “We are confident that we’re going to see widespread rainfall and windy conditions basically starting Tuesday afternoon to Thursday morning.”

Winds with gusts up to 40mph, and between two to four inches of rain across the panhandle were possible, though those were still preliminary predictions, said Cravens.

That’s significantly downgraded from the 180 mph and gusts to 215 mph recorded Wednesday, as Bolaven made its way across the North Pacific.

Meteorologists have connected Bolaven and other powerful storms this year to climate change and El Niño climate patterns, which have increased ocean temperatures above average, allowing storms to strengthen.