Because of its remote location and wet climate, Juneau is a very unique city in which to forecast the weather. The results of this research project should be considered with this in mind, so a brief description of the Juneau forecast area and some of its different characteristics which relate directly to the forecast process and public usage has been added here.
Juneau is located in the Southeast panhandle of Alaska adjacent to the Gulf of Alaska (extreme Northeast Pacific) and is nestled against the Pacific Coast Mountains. These 5,000 to 9,000 foot peaks separate Alaska from British Columbia, Canada. The terrain surrounding Juneau is rather rugged and includes open waterways connecting the peninsulas and islands which makeup the Southeast panhandle, narrow fjord-like inlets and river valleys, mountain peaks ranging from elevations of 2,500 to over 15,000 feet, dense spruce and hemlock forest, and miles of glaciers. In fact, the rise from sea level to an elevation of 15,300 feet occurs over less than 12 statue miles from west to east. Within this complicated terrain, weather conditions often vary widely over a distance of just a few miles.
The weather observation network is rather sparse in Southeast Alaska. For the entire forecast area of 97,000 square miles, there are seven ASOS (Automated Surface Observing System), five AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System), four cooperative observers, and nine wind stations (five of which are in the Juneau area). The only two upper air sounding sites are at extreme opposite ends of the forecast area in Yakutat and Annette. One WSR-88D (Doppler radar) is located on Biorka Island, along the central outer coast, which provides the only continuous data from the eastern Gulf of Alaska. With the exception of periodic ship observations offshore, much of the area upstream from the Juneau forecast area is virtually data void.
For the sake of comparison, WSFO Juneau's forecast area of responsibility is approximately the size of the state of Oregon (including marine areas). Forecast responsibility for the Oregon area is distributed among four forecast offices, using surface observations from nineteen ASOS sites, and data from six radars.
As the forecast environment in Juneau is a little different from other American cities, the relationship between the local NWS office and its forecast users is also unique. Many occupations in the Juneau area are directly dependent on weather conditions. Some of the most common include commercial fishing, tourism related industries such as cruises and air tours, construction, and logging. Juneau is the hub for travel and mail distribution to many of the smaller communities in Southeast Alaska, so the weather forecast is heavily utilized by the small air services in the area. With a population of approximately 31,000 people, Juneau is a fairly small town. Because of its remote location, the city's media sources are quite limited. There is no local TV weather personality in Juneau as in most American cities, so most residents only receive the weather forecast orally. As the saying goes, "a picture tells 1,000 words," and with radio being the sole weather source for most Juneauites, many never see a graphic representation of the area's weather conditions.
About Juneauites
Several questions were included in this project to obtain a profile of the weather forecast user in Juneau. Present on every questionnaire was a checklist where the respondent was asked to choose their primary weather source. From a list of 9 possible sources, 42% of the respondents chose radio as their primary weather source. NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) Weather Radio was a separate choice, so this response referred only to the local radio stations. Only 31% chose a source of information which gives the NWS Juneau local forecast directly as it is written (NOAA Weather Radio, NWS telephone recording, Internet, the Weather Channel, and the Alaska Weather television show). The most popular source on Sink's survey, local television (46%), compares fairly well with Juneau's local radio response (42%), as Juneau has no local TV weatherman and radio is the main local information medium. (References to local TV in this study actually pertain to the Anchorage local news show, where their weatherman does briefly mention Juneau along with the rest of the state.) The "looking out the window" response was alarmingly popular in Juneau (20%) compared with the Sink results (5%). If it is assumed that these responses were not meant to be humorous, then one-fifth of our respondents do not regularly receive a weather forecast. (See table below)
| Radio | Local TV (Alaska Weather Show) | The Weather Channel | Newspaper | Phone Recording | NOAA Weather Radio | Looking out the Window | Internet | Other |
| 42% | 9% | 3% | 5% | 3% | 3% | 20% | 1% | 2% |
Other questions posed for soliciting background information asked respondents which type of forecast was most useful to them, how often during the week they paid attention to the weather forecast, and whether or not they used the forecast specifically in their vocation. The forecast product found to be the most useful was the Juneau public forecast, which was not surprising as it is the one given over the local radio most often. Results of the Juneau questionnaire pertaining to forecast usage were also more grim than Sink's results on the same subject. Sink found that 70% of her respondents used the forecast four to six days a week or everyday, and only 50% of Juneauites said they used it that often. Also, the Juneau questionnaire received twice as many "never" responses as Sink's. When asked if they used the forecast specifically in their vocation, 33% of Juneau residents said "never" and 28% said "often" or "always".
This low usage response was interesting for Juneau where many occupations and most popular recreational activities (fishing, boating, hiking, skiing, etc.) are weather dependent. Perhaps it is because it rains so often in Juneau. (The normal number of rainy days per year in Juneau is 199.) Some people specifically indicated in their comments that they don't let bad weather affect their plans at all. One person wrote, "Hey, I'm Alaskan. I don't schedule for weather, I deal with it." Another respondent simply wrote, "I always dress for rain."