The Arctic Sounder - Serving the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope
It's been a challenging year for whalers in Utqiagvik. Crews started going out in September, but found the bowheads weren't appearing in their usual concentrations in the waters closer to shore. On the water Nov. 16 Panigiuq Crew landed the first whale of the season for Utqiagvik, later than many people can remember ever bringing one in before.
The flooding was caused by a weather system that moved up to the Bering Sea from the tropics, and raised water levels and dumped rain across much of western Alaska.
With the average temperature hovering north of negative this winter, Utqiaġvik and much of the Arctic once again broke records with a season that didn't match up to historic expectations.
Snow is melting sooner and coming in later on the North Slope, and that, in turn, is having an affect on other ecological variables.
This early in spring, the season usually only starts, but the weather patterns have been changing, and so has been the harvest time, Donovan said.
The northern Canadian town of Churchill, Manitoba, may be an early casualty of climate change, but it could become an Arctic sustainability pioneer, says Douglas Clark, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan.
Deteriorating conditions on the Mackenzie Valley Winter Road have prompted the Northwest Territories government to close the winter highway for the season.
The past three winters have been particularly hard on road pavements. Wet winters with temperatures fluctuating on both sides of the freezing point have damaged even relatively fresh asphalt, leading to cracks, potholes and deep ruts.
In Yellowknife, the territorial capital, temperatures climbed above zero over the weekend, breaking a record high on Sunday with a temperature of 3 C.
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