A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck about 20 miles south of Little Diomede on February 3, 2025, with residents in the region feeling the tremor but reporting no injuries. Seismic events along the Bering microplate have happened before, although they’re not common. The largest on record was a magnitude 7.3 earthquake near Huslia in 1958.

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.

After alerting the region to very high levels of harmful algal blooms west of Kotzebue and Gambell two weeks ago, scientist onboard the research vessel Norseman II have found even higher numbers of Alexandrium catenella algae cells near Wales, Diomede and Shishmaref.

March brought a series of storms across the Seward Peninsula, and in one Bering Strait community that meant a series of power outages. The storms are stronger than residents recall in the past.

A few years ago, people had to cover up parts of the burial site that were becoming exposed.

Wales lost shorefast ice early in the season. Ice along the shore has been crushed and broken. This is a very unusual event for Wales as many of our hunters rely on great ice conditions for whale and other sea mammal catch for food.

Ice in the north Bering Sea is diminishing, researchers aboard a Coast Guard ship report.

Spiders possibly wolf spiders of family (Lycosidae) numbering some 75 to 100 were seen on top of snow along Boulder Creek road and lagoon.

Three researchers from the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center completed a trawl survey of the Northern Bering Sea in 2017 and found a dramatic increase in pollock. 

Weather patterns have changed so much in the past several years.

Alaska’s tundra landscapes carpet a good portion of the state, from the North Slope to the elbow of the Alaska Peninsula. Researchers say it's slowly sinking in places -- as much as a fifth of an inch each year.

Hazy fourth of July...

By this time of the year, we usually have 2-3 miles of shore-fast ice that sticks to our beach. We as a village have not done our winter harvest of seals and walrus, and we are worried that we will not be able to bowhead whale hunt.

Dead orca observed in the Bering Strait region.

9-04-15 Swainson's thrush - Wales, Alaska, USA

8-1-14 Unusual spider - Wales, Alaska, USA

We are spotting dead baby 'spotted' and 'ringed' seals washing up on the beach with no signs of lesions or signs of gun shots.

The sea is our garden for food and other things.