A whale that washed ashore in the island of Kauai over the weekend likely died in part because it ate large volumes of fishing traps, fishing nets, plastic bags and other marine debris, scientists said Thursday, highlighting the threat to wildlife from the millions of tons of plastic that ends up in oceans every year.

After the January storms provided the flushing and scouring our coastal rivers desperately needed, anglers were thinking and hoping the winter steelhead would be there. Up and down the coast, well known steelhead rivers are not seeing the numbers we're accustomed to. This same scenario happened a couple years ago, but the fish finally showed up. And that will more than likely be the case again this year. But with the calendar now saying February, it's getting a little more nerve racking.

Test results show the bloom was almost certainly to blame for mass deaths of kina as well as crayfish, starfish and sea cucumber which washed ashore at Hardinge Rd, including Sandy Beach, and on a small part of Westshore Beach eight days ago.

"Swallows usually show up in the spring time or when winter months are over in Alaska."

Kirkenes had a record warm moon and Kongsberg has had more than twice as much accumulation as they usually do in January.

The upper mountain at Eaglecrest Ski Area in Juneau was closed on Friday following a large avalanche Thursday morning. No one was hurt.

Avalanches hit houses after rain in western Norway in numerous locations.

A boulder tumbled down the face of Mount Roberts early Wednesday, damaging one side of the Basin Road Trestle’s wooden railing and closing the road. Mattice says slides are more common in the fall, but warm, wet conditions this winter contributed to the rockfall — especially this weekend’s heavy rains.

An image of a swollen leg on this caribou raises questions that it may be a case of brucellosis.

A landslide has closed busy highway 80 between Fauske and Bodø. The Nordland Line has also been affected. The weather has been very bad with large amounts of rainfall in Nordland today. There have been snow and slush avalanches in several places in the county, and a number of road and train sections have been closed due to avalanches.

Southern Yukon is basking in some unusually mild January weather this week, with temperatures climbing well above the freezing point on Wednesday and expected to stay that way into Thursday.

Cat tests positive for Brid Flu. The animal lived near a poultry farm in Mauléon, Deux-Sèvres in the west of the country.

Temperatures in China's northernmost city plunged to minus 53°C (minus 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit) -- its coldest ever recorded.

Light rain is expected to fall across much of the region Tuesday, with a storm possibly bringing more rain to Anchorage on Wednesday.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) is a strain of the avian influenza virus that primarily affects birds, particularly poultry. It has been detected in farmed mink.

Denali receives a foot of snow in mid-winter storm. Interior areas, including Fairbanks, also received high amounts of snow.

Twenty people were rescued from a chairlift at the Hlíðarfjall ski area outside Akureyri. The lift stalled when the wire was blown off its spool by a strong blast of wind.

A Wales resident shot and killed the bear. With the loss of sea ice and the ocean staying open later in the year, polar bears have been spending more time on land, which increases the chance of human encounters.

Alaska Railroad freight train derailed early Tuesday after plowing into avalanche debris south of Girdwood. The debris spread roughly 300 feet across the tracks.

Honduran authorities have declared a 90-day nationwide health alert following an outbreak of avian influenza among pelicans, it was announced in Tegucigalpa. About 40,000 poultry were also evaluated and no signs of the malady were detected, it was also reported.