State fire crews began a 35-acre prescribed burn on Anchorage’s Hillside May 12 between Hilltop Ski Area and the Prospect Heights Trailhead, expecting visible smoke and temporary trail closures.
Anchorage is experiencing the highest tree pollen counts in nearly a decade, with counts reaching thousands of grains per cubic meter from birch, poplar, cottonwood, aspen, willow, and alder, triggering widespread allergy symptoms.
On the last Sunday in April, I received a brief but exciting message. “Frogs are singing,” Barbara Carlson notified me.
A bright fireball was captured streaking across the Southcentral Alaska sky on the morning of April 24, 2025, visible for about six seconds before disappearing behind trees.
A powerful April storm in Anchorage, Alaska, has triggered high avalanche danger along with heavy snowfall and strong winds, leading to travel advisories and warnings from local authorities.
A recent report highlights the unprecedented low snowfall during the 2024-2025 winter in Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska, affecting not only the weather but also events like the Iditarod race.
Salmon advocates have raised concerns over declining salmon numbers, blaming an oversupply of hatchery-reared fish that overwhelms natural stocks and disrupts ocean ecosystems.
Anchorage has upgraded its emergency response to level two due to potential eruption risks from Mount Spurr, located 75 miles west of the city.
Alaska state officials have advanced the start of the official fire season to March 17 in Southcentral, Southeast, and Western Alaska due to unusually low snowpack and warmer temperatures. The change aims to mitigate increased wildfire risks in these populated regions.
The National Weather Service says the city has had no snow at this point in the season only twice before. On average, that doesn’t usually happen until halfway through April. Last year, which turned out to be the second snowiest on record, more than 2 feet blanketed the ground on March 3.
Never before seen such huge flocks of white winged cross bills
Litter along the stretch of the Glenn Highway from Eagle River to Wasilla is significantly less noticeable.
Alaska experiences unusual weather with multiple false springs, marked by warm periods followed by heavy snow or cold, casting doubt on the arrival of summer.
In past years observers reported on changes in the timing of when spring crust snow develops in Glen Alps. This year the crust is developing at lower elevation(s) but not at Glen Alps. Is it spring in Anchorage and still winter in the Chugach?
A Houston man was injured by a moose near his home, an unusual event linked to increased moose aggression due to harsh winter conditions.
I have never seen so many little tunnels on my lawn before.
Snow dumped on Southcentral Alaska this weekend, with more than 8 inches falling in the Anchorage area and about 5 inches in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. A Climatologist says this weekend has led to a record amount of snowpack this late in the season.
A drainage culvert beneath the street failed, causing the sinkhole.
Three young dogs were euthanized this week after testing positive for parvovirus, an Anchorage Animal Care and Control official said.
Libraries at two Anchorage elementary schools — Klatt and Spring Hill — were closed after the maintenance department identified ceiling damage. The district also decided “out of an abundance of caution” to proactively close the libraries of Bear Valley Elementary, Fire Lake Elementary, and Ravenwood Elementary, which share the same building design with Klatt and Spring Hill.
This is the second reported roof collapse in Anchorage in two days.
This season the birch pollen has been particularly bad. Some people with asthma have had to leave the state. The peak was May 18 when pollen counts were 974 grains per cubic meter.
Scott Keenan and his wife Ashlie moved to Anchorage from Sydney, Australia four years ago, and found there were no other apps to help them safely navigate around the new types of wildlife they started to encounter in Alaska. Repawts can help people share important information about wildlife sightings and receive safety alert notifications for anyone hitting the hiking trails, campsites and fishing spots around Alaska.
No residents had been reported injured or missing, and power had been restored to most impacted homes. City officials had also carved a path so residents can travel in the area by snowmachine.
Auto shops are seeing more business because of damaged tires, and drivers are often inching through a messy maze of bad road conditions. Road crews are making headway but still catching up from unfavorable weather last month.
I was watching a flock of redpolls at my feeder when I noticed one unusual member with a huge white body. See photo.
Coyotes, first documented in Anchorage around 1900, are not often seen in Anchorage. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates coyote population abundance using the Trapper Questionnaire reports, and consider the Kenai Peninsula, Copper River Valley and Mat-Su Valley to have the highest coyote population densities.
The warming climate in Alaska and across the circumpolar North is creating new health and safety risks for people, animals and ecosystems. This piece is the part of a series that explores zoonotic diseases and other hazards emerging in a warming and thawing Alaska. One warm June day, Joey Ausel found an odd speck
Unseasonably cold air swept into Alaska’s largest city Thursday, and forecasters expect it to stay through the weekend. The cold is plunging south into Alaska all the way from the North Pole, pushing a band of snow through Southcentral.
A red fox roams a popular recreation outlet in Anchorage, and gets quite close to people. Treat encounters with caution, as foxes can carry rabies and other diseases.
Costco customers in Anchorage have recently started sharing online reports of ravens stealing groceries from their carts and the back of their pickup trucks, and biologists say the behavior could spread around town quickly.
A wildlife biologist believes a lynx that recently approached a young girl may have been a juvenile. The girl’s father said he’s now on higher alert after the encounter.
Friday night was probably the best aurora display I've ever witnessed! I captured 4,883 exposures at 5 second intervals from just after 10pm until 5am the next morning.
Last week, Alaska became one of at least 32 states to report finding zebra mussels in a product called moss balls which were sold at local pet stores.
Non-native chukar, used to train bird hunting dogs, spotted in Anchorage.
We went from relatively cold days and nights in late March, to warm days and warm nights in April. This means no overnight freezing of snow, and no crust conditions for skiers...yet.
Snowshoe hare populations are at a high point in Alaska and are making an uncommon appearance in Anchorage.
In big and small ways, a pandemic has altered what Anchorage feels like to live in, from coffee to court to riding the bus.
Unusual winter sighting of a northern shrike (Lanius borealis) could become more common as temperatures rise.
Hikers in the Anchorage area are advised to use caution on the Turnagain Arm Trail, following multiple reports of a black bear displaying unusual behavior.
The forest on the East side of Cheney Lake is changing and the biggest change is the proliferation of May Day trees.
City park staff have set up barriers in hopes of encouraging passersby to stay far away. Potential fixes could include putting up a wall and relocating the bike path or road.
The plan is a broad vision for what the municipality wants Anchorage to look like in 2050, with a focus on dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Lightning is unusual in a city that, according to the National Weather Service, sees fewer than two thunderstorms a year. It was the first time the power company had seen a lightning-related power outage in 15 years.
Thunderstorms are rare in Anchorage due to its proximity to the coast and protection by the Chugach Mountains from moist air traveling up from Southeast. Thursdays storm produced lightening that struck a power line and caused an outage, and produced nickel-sized hail in Eagle River.
Unfamiliar insect found near Potters Marsh, identified as a red velvet mite (family Trombidiidae).
A second whale has been found dead floating in the middle of Turnagain Arm, just two weeks after a juvenile humpback whale was found dead on the Arm after stranding itself twice.
The worst-hit areas appear to be established neighborhoods with older spruce trees, especially in Turnagain and Spenard.
It’s the first reported sighting of the falcated duck on mainland Alaska, Fish and Game says.
On Tuesday, the city’s Assembly is receiving the 106-page document, which outlines everything from transportation recommendations to emission reduction targets.
Seasonal swings set drivers up for bad trip.
I rarely see trumpeter swans on the lake, and I don't ever remember seeing them so early.
The closures of the campgrounds, facing the threat of falling trees, likely will last through summer, the state parks division said.
Why air quality is worse at different times of day and how you might be violating city code with your leaf blower.
Spring has come about a month early. Is the mating season for our state bird, the Willow Ptarmigan, early as well?
Warmer than normal temperatures in Anchorage may be causing willows (genus Salix) to bud early.
The snow cover in Anchorage and the Chugach is disappearing very quickly. Go out and get it while you can!
Officials cited rockfall danger and traffic hazards created by people stopping to fill containers.
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) are usually a common visitor to my bird feeder, however this is the first time one has been spotted at the feeder during the 2018-2019 winter.
We have over two weeks of cold windy weather. It started in mid April around the time of the big wind storm. And in relation of the wind storm on April 24th, Rick Thoman wrote: "Winds this strong in the Anchorage are rare at this time of year. An unusually strong storm for the season in the southeastern Bering Sea produced southeast strong winds blowing across the Chugach Mountains. However, being April, the temperature profile of the atmosphere close to the ground was more conducive than in winter for allowing the very strong winds aloft to reach down to the ground.
One reading on the Hillside clocked winds reaching 91 miles per hour. The day saw reports of property damage, road closures and downed power lines.LEO Note: According to Rick Thoman of NWS, these are unusually high winds for April.
“If black bears are starting to stir, brown bears could be, too,” a state Fish and Game official said.
Fishing businesses in Mat-Su warned that the rules could hurt the state's tourism economy.
A flock of European Starlings sighted at a mid-town Anchorage building.
I've only heard this animal in the spring/summer.
Nearly all emperors winter in the Aleutian Islands, on the western and south side of the Alaska Peninsula, and on Kodiak Island. However, sightings have occurred as far south as California and even Hawaii.
Alaska Division of Forestry spokesman Norm McDonald said the 2-acre fire's exact cause has not been determined but is suspected to be similar to that of four smaller Mat-Su wildfires earlier Thursday. Those blazes were tracked to backfires from a white Chevrolet pickup truck.
A bright little unknown beetle in the middle of my kitchen.
Location: Two locations in the same Hillside neighborhood: 1st Location: Metz Court, 2nd Location: Park Hills Drive – Anchorage,
Observations From Members 