"We have not seen this on a wide-spread occasion in a number of years. They are nesting in sea weed, and making it troublesome to go to the beach." Jacob Martin
Unusually warm spring temperatures are rapidly melting above average snowpack, leading to flooding.
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.
Low water on the Noatak River may be the reason behind changes in the water quality in community wells. The water quality began to change in the plant as measured (eventually) by the need for twice as much chlorine and Naclo polymer in order to get an acceptable residual of chlorine. The change indicates that the well recharge had been depleted and the that wells began operating on stored water in the aquifer. This water would have been older, likely anaerobic and higher in organics and in inorganics such as iron and manganese.
Concern about permafrost thaw and possible impacts to underground water and wastewater lines.
"To grow tomatoes you need eight hours of sunlight each day. Not a problem. But you also need 3-4 months of warm temperatures between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. That's the problem."
Although native to southern Alaskan waters, Pacific pomfret (Brama japonica) are not often caught by salmon fishers.
"Jakolof Creek is dry almost all the way up to the switchbacks and continues to recede. The early run of red salmon may have made it to the lake, but that is probably the only run that has."
"The spruce bark beetle epidemic currently ravaging Southcentral AK's spruce trees is well-known, but I haven't heard mention of other pests occurring in conjunction."
Warm water temperatures may be causing stress and increase the risk of infections and other illness in fish.
During the summer of 2019, warm water temperatures lowered the amount of dissolved oxygen in rivers and caused salmon across the state, including Mountain Village, to die before they were able to spawn.
Salmon are dying along the Andreafsky River and Lower Yukon River before spawning out. Water surface temperatures have been unusually warm, at one point reaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperatures in July reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, above the normal high temperature of 72.3 degrees.
In July, Norton Sound water surface temperatures reached 68.2 DEG F on 7/10 and 69.3 DEG F on 7/11, which is about 17 degrees above average. The water was warm enough to comfortably swim in.
A burying beetle was seen for the first time by an observer in Tuntutuliak.
Our operations and maintenance staff do their best to insure all mechanical systems are functioning properly. But several factors limited their ability to respond, including significant smoke from the Swan Lake wildfire.
Unusually high abundance of rusty tussock moth caterpillars in the Nome area.
It was also during the week where a number of dead fish started to occur along the riverine segment.
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