Editor's note: The following is an unedited National Park Service release.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park joins hundreds of other locales as a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador. As a WRN Ambassador, the park facilitates the exchange of weather and water information with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Juneau.

Weather information is critical for the thousands of visitors who hike the historic international Chilkoot Trail between Dyea, Alaska and Lake Bennett, British Columbia, Canada. Together, the park and the National Weather Service have established flood stages along the Chilkoot Trail so that visitors can be notified of hazardous conditions and closures.

Weather along the Chilkoot Trail can change dramatically. Rain, fog, high winds, snow, and sleet can be expected year-round. The low lying passes along the trail allow people to move between the coast and the interior, but they also funnel and intensify winds over the mountain passes. While other areas in Southeast Alaska are known for their damp climates, Skagway is famous for its winds. Days with sustained winds of 15-20 mph and gusts of 40 mph are common. The town is sandwiched between the wet, temperate rainforest and the dry Yukon Interior, nestled at the north end of a deep fjord, the Lynn Canal. Skagway’s climate is unique because it is much drier than that of its Southeast Alaska neighbors.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “The WRN Ambassador initiative is the connecting hub of a vast network of federal, state, and local government agencies; emergency managers and city planners; researchers, the media; the insurance industry; nonprofit organizations; the private sector; and many others who are working together to address the impacts of extreme weather on daily life.”