We may be isolated and remote, but we're visited by most storms which cross the North Pacific and the Gulf of Alaska.
At 57º03N 135º21'W, Sitka is 800 miles northwest of Seattle, one hour behind Pacific Time and four hours behind the East Coast. Sitka is situated on the west coast of Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska, on Sitka Sound, adjacent to the Gulf of Alaska. It is accessible by Alaska Airlines jet or the Alaska Marine Highway (the ferry system). You cannot get here by car, except on the ferry.
We have 8,000 residents, fourteen miles of road, eight feet of rain, two colleges, two great libraries, and one traffic light. Rather than having the frigid weather of Alaska's interior (a thousand miles farther north and west), our weather is maritime cool, sort of a "Puget Sound North." When it's a bitter cold winter in the lesser 48, Sitka is usually a balmy 25-35º, and when it's blistering hot in America, Sitka is likely to be in the 60's.
Why are we here?
That's a fair question and one we hear quite a lot. Why would we stay in a remote, isolated town with no shopping malls, world-class rainfall, world-class scenic beauty, world-class fishing and hunting, little crime, little traffic and friendly people? Gee, I don't know why.
Here's one clue:
Mt Edgecumbe is a dormant volcano 15 miles west of Sitka, on Kruzof Island. Its classic Fuji-type shape is the backdrop for thousands of pictures taken each year in Sitka.
Folks say that Mt Edgecumbe is a great weather forecaster...
If you can't see it, it's raining.
If you can see it, it's going to rain.
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