Above normal temperatures in the month of November followed by a series of storms makes varying ice conditions.
Water floods the Kotzebue lagoon. Grasses can be seen in July and a month later in August the water has risen 4-6 ft.
Kotzebue experienced one blizzard after another in March, and now with so much piled up and drifted snow, the community is struggling to dig out.
"I was born and raised in Kotzebue and have been through many storms. This was one of the worst."
It has been some years since we have had a long storm. March 6 marks the 3rd day and there have been no jets or small planes flying.
Ali Ralson was riding her 4 Wheeler towards Cape Blossom and came upon a beach full of fish. It appears that most of the fish are stickleback although there may be other species involved too. This would suggest an environmental issue that would impact multiple fish species rather than a pathogen. One potential cause could be harmful algal toxins.
There has been alot of heavy weather hitting western Alaska this summer. Here are photos from recent storm surge in Kotzebue.
Pussy willows sprouting on March 1st! This is the second time in Kotzebue that a March bloom has been documented in LEO Network., but this time it is much earlier.
It’s a dramatic drop from this winter’s balmy start, but this is a normal weather pattern for this time of year.
The flooding was caused by a weather system that moved up to the Bering Sea from the tropics, and raised water levels and dumped rain across much of western Alaska.
Warm water temperatures may be causing stress and increase the risk of infections and other illness in fish.
"Our temperatures reached 83 degrees, and seem to be getting hotter! We think that maybe the warm water has something to do with the humpy die-off?"
This comes just days after other reports of about 60 dead ice seals found from Kotlik to Kotzebue and Kivalina to Point Hope.
"Yesterday we came over to do an assessment of the high-water flood storm," said Northwest Arctic Borough Deputy Director of Public Services Dickie Moto, who grew up in Deering. "They lost a lot of ground on the front and on the back side of town because of the high water and rough seas.
A strong storm impacting NW Alaska with high winds and sea level rise (over 6 ft) caused localized flooding in Kotzebue.
Unseasonably warm in Arctic.
Folks here are famous for being able to handle the cold, but anything wet in December has always made us nervous. Especially wet falling from the sky. Lately, weather, our favorite nemesis, has broken the rules. Our confidence in the most-trustworthy feature of the Arctic -- winter -- has been wounded.
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