The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is experiencing unusually low snowpack and heavy rainfall, with temperatures significantly above normal for January, raising concerns about potential impacts such as increased wildfire risk and infrastructure challenges.

The 2025 Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race has been delayed by two weeks due to unusually low snowfall and warm temperatures, making it difficult to ensure safe trail conditions. This extended delay is rare in the race's 46-year history, typically only postponed for a day or two.

The Holiday Classic sled dog race in Bethel, Alaska, has been postponed due to hazardous trail conditions caused by recent storms and warm temperatures.

During the Christmas bird count in Bethel, despite high winds, volunteers spotted two bald eagles and a red-breasted nuthatch, marking the first sighting of the nuthatch in 21 years of the event.

Bethel, Alaska, experienced historically low July temperatures with highs in the 40s, a rare event not seen since 1971, due to an unusual cold air outbreak from the Arctic.

A stonefly nymph, common in Alaska but unfamiliar to local residents, was observed along the Kuskokwim River.

The Kuskokwim River breakup has led to widespread flooding, affecting roads and drinking water in several communities, with Kwethluk experiencing significant impacts.

Bethel Search and Rescue advises against travel on the Kuskokwim River due to dangerous conditions of open water and thin ice identified in their annual aerial survey.

Amid severely restricted fishing on the Kuskokwim River, one bright spot has been abundant sockeye salmon runs at 30,000 fish daily near Bethel.

The spiders are usually in multiple form in most areas, but it has not been witnessed in this form. This is described as a spider "ballooning" event, the term used when spiders launch themselves in to the air. These events might be happening more frequently as warming Arctic temperatures has been associated with increases in the population of some spider species such as the wolf spider (see Spider Baby Boom in Warming Arctic), and spiders moving further north and also having more then one hatch per season.

Biologists do not expect either to reach their goals for fish reaching their spawning grounds.

The booming Bristol Bay salmon run has broken the record set just last year, while on the Yukon River, Chinook are too scarce to harvest.

In an unusual event, a pair of beluga whales swam about 60 miles up the Kuskokwim River to Bethel. After word got out, boaters pursued the belugas and took at least one of them. Now, an official is working to collect samples of the animal to better understand where it came from.

Air tankers and smokejumpers responded to the fire, which the division said Thursday is no longer a threat.The tanker dumped retardant to help contain the fire, which had spread south, scorching about five acres of tundra. Much of Southwest and Southcentral Alaska is under a red flag warning because of hot, dry and windy conditions.

A decades-long decline in salmon in the Yukon River has reached a crisis this year, forcing harvest closures and prompting emergency shipments of salmon from other regions of Alaska to river residents who are otherwise facing food shortages.

The village is losing ground three times faster than it was 10 years ago, according to studies of Napakiak’s erosion. During high tide, the river is only 64 feet from the high-schoolers’ original classroom and gets closer by the day. On windy days, waves crash against the shore where students used to play, battering it until the land relents and crumbles.

Chum returns are the lowest on record, leaving communities with empty freezers and uncertainty about getting through the winter.

The Kuskokwim River king salmon run does not look particularly strong this year, but chum numbers look even worse. Historically, around 60% of the salmon in the river at this point in the season would be chum or sockeye, but right now Bethel Test Fishery numbers show that just over 20% of the salmon are.

The size of king salmon returning to Western Alaska rivers to spawn has been decreasing over the past few decades. Researchers at the University of Alaska

Heavy snowfall has made maintaining the lower Kuskokwim Ice Road a challenge this year. The road is shorter than usual, even as its crew is working harder.