Unseasonably Warm

Observation: The temperature today is 41 degrees. It has been warm for almost a week and is forecasted to stay warm for at least a half a week more. Our river ice is unstable. The little amount of snow that we had is all melted. It is hard to get up river to go ice fishing, the slough is unsafe to go ice fishing. Trappers have been unable to get out and set traps (trapping season started Nov 1st). For a period of time there was a sheet of ice from snow melting during the day and freezing at night, that made it unsafe for people to be moving around, especially elders. People have been taking four wheelers up the road to get to relatively safe spots on the river to fish, instead of going up the river on snow machine. Victoria Kotongan, Environmental Coordinator, Native Village of Unalakleet

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