With a bleak salmon return this year in Northwest Alaska, a lifelong fisherman reflects on a season marked by empty nets and big questions.
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?
Winter has taken a brief holiday in southern Yukon this week, with a sudden spell of spring-like weather making for wet, slushy conditions — and setting the stage for some slippery roads when winter conditions return later this week.
The Western Arctic Caribou Herd has been declining for years, and the migration patterns of the animals have been changing. In several locations in Northwest Alaska, caribou have been arriving later and later in the season. Friday last week, people in Kotzebue finally started seeing caribou — hundreds of them ― crossing the Kotzebue Sound north of town, coming from the Noatak riverside. Ice conditions are one of the reasons for the caribou’s late migration, said Thomas Baker, chair of the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council.
At 4:45 p.m., 65 inches was on the ground. By 7:30, 72 inches of new snow had fallen in one storm. That’s 6 feet. In less than one day! It was darn close to a new Alaska (and United States) record.
Shifting seasons and hotter temperatures could allow Alaska farmers to grow more abundant and diverse produce. But climate change can also bring drought, pests and permafrost thaw. Human-caused climate change is bringing longer and warmer growing seasons, but also pests and unstable weather.
Autumn colors have been quite delayed this year, maybe ten days to two weeks later than "usual"
Is the abundance of insects unusual? Updates from around the state with picking and weather impacts.
"We usually pick salmon berries in early July."
A 24-hour, 245 mile survey of fireweed plants from Anchorage to Seldovia revealed an almost complete absence of flowering.
The Hatcher Pass Road in Alaska has opened for the summer season, but deep snow remains at higher elevations, with crews spending the last week digging out the road over the pass before opening it.
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