Two small avalanches released on a slide path of Mount Juneau, above the Behrends neighborhood, as Ezra Strong was on a walk this morning in the pouring rain. 

The city issued an evacuation advisory about an hour earlier for Juneau residents in all known slide paths downtown and along Thane Road. Strong and his wife live on Gruening Avenue with their dog. He said he’s not heeding the advisory.

“I think in part because we’re a little bit protected by a rock wall and some other things behind us, in part because we have seen slides come down before on the main slide path that didn’t even get close to us,” he said.

During an online press conference Friday morning, the City & Borough of Juneau’s new Avalanche Advisor John Bressette said that many small slides reduce the hazard by decreasing the amount of snow that could be released in a larger slide. 

“So it’s actually a good thing that we’re seeing smaller slides reducing the total snow load that is capable of producing an avalanche,” Bressette said. 

Some avalanches released above the Flume Trail today. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities confirmed numerous small avalanches along Thane Road this morning. The agency expects more avalanches this evening since the forecast shows continued heavy rainfall, strong winds and warming temperatures. The closure of Thane Road could be extended multiple days. 

Some residents of the Behrends neighborhood have evacuated to friends’ houses or Centennial Hall, the official shelter set up by the city and the American Red Cross.

Carlos Cadiente lives kitty-corner from Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in the Behrends slide path. He evacuated at around 11:30 a.m. in one vehicle while his wife drove behind in another. At a stop sign, he told KTOO they were headed to a friend’s house just down the street. 

“We already had a go bag going and we already had the cars loaded up and ready to roll, and so we’re rolling,” Cadiente said. 

He said this is the first time they’ve heeded an avalanche evacuation advisory in the decades they’ve lived here. 

“It’s kind of an extreme measure, you know, extreme weather that we’ve had,” he said. “So we’re just kind of trying to be proactive and not be a problem,” he said. 

Britt Tonnessen is the community disaster program manager for the Red Cross of Alaska in Southeast. In coordination with the city, the Red Cross set up an emergency shelter at Centennial Hall downtown for residents on Friday. 

At the shelter on Friday morning, she said the Red Cross has been preparing for the last week in case of an evacuation. 

“We’ve seen multiple fatal landslides and avalanches in the past decade,” she said. “Evacuating to a congregate shelter is not people’s dream idea. It’s a safe place to go. We do the best to meet the needs and we have incredible, loving, warm volunteers to meet people.”

Tonnessen said that anyone from avalanche zones, as well as those who feel the load on their roof is becoming too heavy, are welcome at the shelter. 

She said they are prepared to take 150 people, and around 30 people signed in by the early afternoon. 

Avalanche, weather and road conditions are expected to worsen this evening.

KTOO reporter Clarise Larson contributed to this report. 

• Ketchikan, Alaska is known as the “totem pole capital of the world” with over 80 poles.
• Totem poles are unique to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest and represent family history, stories, and events.
• Many of Ketchikan’s oldest totem poles were moved from abandoned villages to the Totem Heritage Center for preservation.

KETCHIKAN, Alaska – An arched sign stretching between two city blocks welcomes travelers to “Alaska’s first city” and the “salmon capital of the world.” But Ketchikan, the first port on many Alaska cruises, has another nickname: the “totem pole capital of the world.” 

Totem poles are unique to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The ones around Ketchikan are particularly old and numerous.  

“The history and the clans that own (the totem poles), like their animal clan crests, those are still living,” said Irene Dundas, Cultural Resources manager for the Ketchikan Indian Community. According to KIC’s website, its tribal citizens descend from Southeast Alaska’s three main Native peoples – Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian – as well as other Alaska Native tribal nations. “We’re not black-and-white photos … We still practice our culture every day, and we live it.”

“Travelers should know that there are spectacular and diverse Indigenous experiences and stories across every region of the United States, each unlike the other and each transcending generations to get to them,” said Sherry L. Rupert, who is Paiute and Washoe and CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association. 

Here’s what else visitors should know about Ketchikan, the “totem pole capital of the world.”  

Why it matters

“Totem poles are often used to show like family history, clan relationships, crest animals, stories, events, or to memorialize a specific person or event, like a battle or a visit by a dignitary, those types of things,” said Hazel Brewi, a visitor information assistant at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, an interagency visitors center for public lands across the state.  

Avalanche professionals are warning backcountry adventurers to stay out of risky terrain after snow slammed the Upper Lynn Canal in late December.

National Weather Service data shows the storm dumped at least 44 inches of snow in Haines, making it the sixth snowiest five-day period in more than two decades. Other reports documented closer to six or seven feet.

“It was definitely one of the higher snowfalls you’ve gotten in five days, pretty much out of all your time that the station’s been there,” said Juneau-based meteorologist Edward Liske.

The dumping has created a risky situation in the backcountry that warrants extreme caution, said Jeff Moskowitz, the director of the Haines Avalanche Center.

His main message: “Avoid being in or around avalanche terrain.”

Earlier this week, Moskowitz dug a snow pit in town – in front of Haines’ historic Fort Seward – that confirmed his assessment. Standing chest-deep in the pit, he pointed out layers of snow stacked on top of each other, each representing a different storm.

There was a somewhat fluffy layer on top, from the snowfall in early January. Below that, there was a roughly three-foot-deep layer that was more compact, from the late December storm.

And then there was a thin, feeble layer of snow just inches from the ground that crumbled like sugar when Moskowitz ran his hand through it. That snow was on the ground before the big storm – it’s the layer that could collapse and trigger an avalanche under the weight of more precipitation, snowmachines or humans.

“We have about a meter of really strong snow just sitting over this sugar,” Moskowitz said, calling it a “dangerous combination for avalanches.”

Starting Dec. 27, the situation prompted the center to issue warnings about high avalanche risk in the Haines area. Moskowitz said people should stay off slopes that are greater than 30 degrees – and avoid traveling beneath them.

“It’s just a tricky situation, because there’s lots of snow, and we want to go play,” he said. “But we still have this strong-over-weak layering in most places.”

In some places, he said, the weak layer may be buried so deep that a human or snowmachine wouldn’t trigger it. But in shallower areas, like near trees or rocks. the layer would be closer to the surface and more likely to trigger an avalanche.

“People could ride that slope numerous times until one person finds that weak spot,” he said.

The deluge has stopped for now. But the situation could get worse before it gets better, as temperatures rise and the top layer of snow consolidates into a heavier, thicker slab. New precipitation or other conditions could trigger a natural avalanche cycle, wiping that weak layer out.

“Otherwise, it’s a little bit like a ticking time bomb,” Moskowitz said.

Haines Avalanche Center

The Haines Avalanche Center is a nonprofit and the main source of avalanche information in the Chilkat Valley, which draws backcountry adventurers from around the world. Moskowitz emphasized the importance of donations, grants and borough funding to make that work possible.

In the past, the Haines Borough has asked nonprofits to apply for funding from a $100,000 bucket. But Haines Mayor Tom Morphet said that, amid a steep budget deficit, the assembly discontinued that grant process for fiscal year 2026, which runs through June.

That has meant less funding than usual for the Avalanche Center, which has just three part-time employees, including Moskowitz.

“Less funding means less staff time,” Moskowitz said. “And staff time means that locals who are avalanche professionals and have certifications are out there, digging in the snow, making assessments, posting that information publicly.”

The center posts a general avalanche information product every week, plus a weather forecast and season summary. They also issue advisories when avalanche danger is high, including three days in a row in late December.

But the center does not currently have the funding or staff capacity to consistently publish advisories when avalanche risk is low, moderate or considerable.

“What we don’t want, is that there’s an accident that sparks the public interest in supporting the Avalanche Center,” Moskowitz said. “We just need to maintain the services we provide and just keep it going year after year after year.”

Morphet, the mayor, said the borough and assembly are “acutely aware” of the center’s importance.

Moskowitz said people who recreate in the backcountry can help by paying close attention to their surroundings – and he urged them to send in their observations online.

That could mean details about a human-triggered or natural avalanche, about where the sun has hit the mountains on a particular day, or an observation that feathery crystals – known as surface hoar – have started forming on the snow’s surface.

“There’s very little information that we’re not going to find useful,” Moskowitz said. “All of that is very valuable, and it helps to inform this bigger picture.”