Oscarville

An ice storm knocked out power in Napaskiak, Alaska on Dec. 6, leaving the whole village without electricity for days and prompting a local emergency declaration after water pipes burst. Residents have been traveling 10 miles to Bethel via snowmachine trails for food and generator fuel while the school runs on backup power with delays.

Remnants of Typhoon Halong drove record storm surge and hurricane-force winds into Western Alaska, devastating Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages like Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. Officials report dozens of homes destroyed, mass rescues, widespread outages, and at least one death, with many residents sheltering and recovery efforts underway.

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is experiencing unusually low snowpack and heavy rainfall, with temperatures significantly above normal for January, raising concerns about potential impacts such as increased wildfire risk and infrastructure challenges.

The 2025 Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race has been delayed by two weeks due to unusually low snowfall and warm temperatures, making it difficult to ensure safe trail conditions. This extended delay is rare in the race's 46-year history, typically only postponed for a day or two.

The Holiday Classic sled dog race in Bethel, Alaska, has been postponed due to hazardous trail conditions caused by recent storms and warm temperatures.

During the Christmas bird count in Bethel, despite high winds, volunteers spotted two bald eagles and a red-breasted nuthatch, marking the first sighting of the nuthatch in 21 years of the event.

An aerial survey of the Kuskokwim River revealed variable ice conditions, impacting travel safety as the winter progresses.

Bethel, Alaska, experienced historically low July temperatures with highs in the 40s, a rare event not seen since 1971, due to an unusual cold air outbreak from the Arctic.

A stonefly nymph, common in Alaska but unfamiliar to local residents, was observed along the Kuskokwim River.

Bethel Search and Rescue advises against travel on the Kuskokwim River due to dangerous conditions of open water and thin ice identified in their annual aerial survey.

Amid severely restricted fishing on the Kuskokwim River, one bright spot has been abundant sockeye salmon runs at 30,000 fish daily near Bethel.

Chinook (king) and chum are the major salmon species on the Yukon and Kuskokwim. They’ve been at historically low numbers in both rivers for years. The coho (silver) returns have also dropped.This will be the fourth year subsistence fishing has been closed or severely restricted on both rivers. The region is bracing for another dismal subsistence harvest.

A study by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp and the CDC found that COVID vaccination was 92% effective in preventing hospitalizations and extremely effective at preventing symptomatic cases among the mostly Yupik residents of the region, with booster shots restoring protection against symptomatic cases.

The spiders are usually in multiple form in most areas, but it has not been witnessed in this form. This is described as a spider "ballooning" event, the term used when spiders launch themselves in to the air. These events might be happening more frequently as warming Arctic temperatures has been associated with increases in the population of some spider species such as the wolf spider (see Spider Baby Boom in Warming Arctic), and spiders moving further north and also having more then one hatch per season.

Biologists do not expect either to reach their goals for fish reaching their spawning grounds.

The booming Bristol Bay salmon run has broken the record set just last year, while on the Yukon River, Chinook are too scarce to harvest.

As chum and chinook salmon numbers dwindle in Western Alaska, salmon bycatch in the pollock industry was a main concern addressed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, or NPFMC, from Jun…

The vast majority of callers at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting last week called for a reduction in bycatch limits, which they said would help reverse a dramatic trend of salmon declines on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.

In an unusual event, a pair of beluga whales swam about 60 miles up the Kuskokwim River to Bethel. After word got out, boaters pursued the belugas and took at least one of them. Now, an official is working to collect samples of the animal to better understand where it came from.

Air tankers and smokejumpers responded to the fire, which the division said Thursday is no longer a threat.The tanker dumped retardant to help contain the fire, which had spread south, scorching about five acres of tundra. Much of Southwest and Southcentral Alaska is under a red flag warning because of hot, dry and windy conditions.