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.

The marine mammal was seen some 600 miles from where the river empties into the Bering Sea.

Twenty-three of the 25 fires so far this year were ignited by human activity. While this year’s heavy snowpack and cold spring pushed back the start to fire season in many parts of the state, climate change is generally causing an earlier snowmelt, said climatologist Rick Thoman.

Anchorage-based photographer saw something wild — a sudden, bright light on the northern horizon that quickly started to take on a spiral shape as it drew nearer. The spiral “appears to be rocket engine exhaust from a SpaceX Transporter-7 mission that launched on the Falcon 9 about three hours earlier in California.”

“Right now the people who have dogs in their yards are very concerned. This is happening at night when it’s dark, so everybody is on edge.” - Tanana First Chief

The No. 1 problem is ticks, according to Gerlach. Different tick species have been turing up in recent years in Alaska, apparently because they now are able to live and thrive in the current warmer climate around the circumpolar north.

On June 19, 2015, a slow-moving low-pressure system with spectacular thunderstorms that produced little rain began making its way through Alaska. By the time the storms finally petered out about a week later, 61,000 bolts of lightning had been unleashed on a boreal forest in the state. No one had ever seen anything quite like it, not even in 2004, when 8,500 lightning strikes were recorded in a single day.

To varying degrees, nearly the entire state was warmer than normal this July, according to a weather expert.

Least Surprising News: Another Warm Month in Alaska

Yukon subsistence fishermen face challenges with gear restrictions, closures, and reports of salmon potentially infected with ichthyophonus, impacting their summer fishing activities.

Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen, the sole veterinarian with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, has investigated 48 tick infestations in the past three years. She’s found evidence that two exotic species are established and reproducing in Alaska.

With a sickening thud, another hefty and handsome salmon lands in the waste barrel, headed for the dogs .