While Northwest Arctic residents encounter bears year-round, such sightings are not common in Kotzebue this time of year, Cantine said. Charlie Henry Jr., an Elder from Kotzebue, agreed: “That is so strange — brown bear in the middle part of the coldest months.”

The Western Arctic Caribou Herd has been declining for years, and the migration patterns of the animals have been changing. In several locations in Northwest Alaska, caribou have been arriving later and later in the season. Friday last week, people in Kotzebue finally started seeing caribou — hundreds of them ― crossing the Kotzebue Sound north of town, coming from the Noatak riverside. Ice conditions are one of the reasons for the caribou’s late migration, said Thomas Baker, chair of the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council.

Above normal temperatures in the month of November followed by a series of storms makes varying ice conditions.

Heavy rains have elevated river levels throughout August and September. High water continues to erode the river bank in the community. The photos show a tree that was 22 feet from the edge is know 3 feet. Total erosion has reached 91 ft. by old landfill and new mark shows 112 ft. marker.

Earlier on Monday, Maniilaq Association notified Kotzebue residents about the musk ox in a Facebook post, saying that the animal was “roaming around the Kotzebue area, last sighted near ‘old’ teacher housing on the lagoon.” Health officials asked residents to not approach or agitate the animal and to keep their dogs under control.

Water floods the Kotzebue lagoon. Grasses can be seen in July and a month later in August the water has risen 4-6 ft.

Out commercial fishing on the water in the inter Kotzebue Sound the weather was calm and there were miles and miles of a strange floating orange layer on the surface.

This video shot on June 11th outside of Kotzebue shows red-necked phalaropes displaying circling behavior.

The river in Noatak is slowly cutting away parts of the road. This is an on going problem and the observation by Jeffrey Luther provides the latest in a series about erosion and related impacts.

This post is an update on the river erosion situation in Noatak, where a new channel is being cut by the Noatak River.

As the river changes and erosion happens along the banks, new channels are being formed around the community.

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.

Permafrost thaw in Noatak is causing the condition of the grave site to degrade. A trench has formed and crosses are tipping over.

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.

The heavy rains and high water from storm Murdok today and Monday are contributing to the erosion of the old landfill and river bank.

There has been alot of heavy weather hitting western Alaska this summer. Here are photos from recent storm surge in Kotzebue.