The McDonald Fire has grown to over 39,000 acres west of the Tanana River, with statewide fires consuming 72,000 acres; critical fire danger and smoke advisories are in effect.
An explosive eruption Friday at Shishaldin Volcano on the Aleutian Chain raised renewed unrest, resulting in a higher level of warning status by the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
The smoke is from numerous wildfires burning in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
Anchorage saw temperatures spike above 60 degrees every day in June for the first time in recorded history. The city also experienced near record low precipitation: Only 1/10 of an inch of rain fell the entire month.
“It’s been hot, it’s been dry, and it’s been windy. And those winds gusts of 20 miles per hour, it’s kind of funneled through the Andreafsky River drainage,” said Beth Ipsen. Federal entities sent in more firefighters this week, and some residents are thinking about preparing their go-bags.
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.
Volcano scientists issued an alert Wednesday, warning that a cloud of ash — from an eruption more than century ago — was headed toward Alaska's Kodiak Island. The ash is from the powerful 1912 eruption of Novarupta.
Three volcanoes are erupting across the Aleutian Range — Great Sitkin and Semisopochnoi in the Aleutian Islands and Pavlof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula.
Parts of Interior and Southcentral Alaska will see poor air quality as a result of wildfires this week, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation warned on Tuesday.
Dry spring conditions and strong winds are allowing a burn at the dump to grow near Pilot Point. Fire crews are dropping suppressant and 12 smokejumpers worry working the fire estimated at 250 acres as of Monday night.
The Alaska Division of Forestry deployed 12 smokejumpers on an estimated 100-acre wildfire burning near the village of Akiachak in southwest Alaska Tuesday afternoon to protect a fish camp and Native allotments surrounding the fire.
Strong northwesterly winds in the vicinity of Katmai and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes have picked up loose volcanic ash eruption and carried it to the southeast toward Kodiak Island today. The maximum cloud height is 5,000 ft above sea level. This is not the result of recent volcanic activity and occurs during times of high winds and dry snow-free conditions in the Katmai area.
Strong southerly winds picked up loose ash from a 1912 volcanic eruption, sending an ash cloud about 4,000 feet into the sky.
A haze visible through Southcentral Alaska on Wednesday was caused by smoke from fires burning in Siberia that began flowing into Alaska in early July.
Smoke from wildfires in Siberia drifted to Alaska last year as well, according to the National Weather Service, but Alaska already had hazy skies from local wildfires.
The yellow tinting in ocean water has been identified by the Tanana Valley Clinic as spruce pollen, but it remains to be seen why the pollen counts are so high this year.
Ocean water may be tinted yellow from pollen.
Elevated pollen levels in Anchorage and across Alaska raise questions about changes in respiratory health and the importance of having good air quality during the coronavirus pandemic.
Unusually high levels of seasonal pollen create a visible sheen on water.
Seeing pollen in rainwater is unusual.
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