NWS Kodiak Office Reducing hours

Maritime News Marine Weather
1

I just got the news that the kodiak office is losing a position and will no longer be open 24 hrs a day. They are proposing going to a 3 man station and cutting the 1600-2400 watch stander. As many of you know, AK forecasts come out at 0400 and 1600. This means there won’t be anybody to call about that evening forecast. They might discontinue their evening SSB broadcast. If your boat doesn’t have a satellite weather system, it’ll be a lot harder to get a forecast.

These guys are a great asset, I’ve talked to them multiple times per day, and they are a great help fine tuning the forecast and helping me find weather windows to make it from hidey hole to hidey hole up here, especially this time of year.

We can still prevent this partial closure by writing to our senators and representatives. The change is scheduled to take place sometime in so far this month, Kodiak has handled over 200 calls. An average day is about 14 calls from mariners, 5 from the public, and 6 from Aviation.

2

It’s never been the same since you’d standby on channel 401/4A to hear Peggy Dyson say EVERY morning at 0800 and evening at 1800 … “Hello all mariners, hello all mariners, hello all mariners…this is WBH29, the National Weather Service office Kodiak, Alaska”

I’d love the hear the old time tug skippers call in to her every day and she’d answer them by name…you knew that was the high point of every one of their days out there to chat with Peggy.

anyway, any lesser service to the maritime community from the NWS in Alaska is a loss. Did Yakutat and Cold Bay end up getting axed?

3

I don’t know about yakutat, but there are a couple of guys stationed in cold bay. They don’t have as much experience as the Kodiak guys though.