A large number of drivers have suffered damage to their vehicles, including tyre blow-outs, as winter weather has caused potholes to appear in roads maintained both by local councils and the road and coastal administration. Repairs are underway, but conditions are still bumpy, as heavy snow has turned to ice, and then to rushing meltwater on several occasions. Such conditions are notoriously damaging to road surfaces.

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.

A steel-framed building was broken apart by wind in Hafnarfjörður on Friday, search & rescue teams attended over a hundred call-outs, and Hellisheiði and other important roads were closed once more. February was one of the coldest and windiest for many years.

Only two passenger flights from Anchorage made it to Dillingham within the last week — one on Saturday and one on Monday. Another flight is expected Tuesday afternoon.

Rainfall in Sitka broke records on Wednesday, and February is shaping up to exceed the month’s typical rainfall by leaps and bounds.

A winter storm caused power outages and property damage across Iceland. Winds reached speeds of 40 meters per second (89 mph) in the Southwest region, though precipitation was less than forecasted. See related article: A total of ten waves of 25 meters high and four waves over 30 meters high were recorded. A 40 m wave was the highest recorded since 1990.

These windy conditions have started to negatively impact sea ice coverage in the Bering Strait. Based on satellite imagery and observations from residents across the region, more open water has started to appear along coastlines and thicker ice has been pushed around, climatologist Rick Thoman said. He noted that sea ice conditions are drastically different in the Bering Strait than they were five days ago.