Around 60 ice seals have been reported dead across northern and western Alaska this month. The cause of the strandings and deaths is not known.
Late December and early January starts to the off-road season have become normal as warmer temperatures continue to mark the winter months across most of the Arctic. While industry has had to adapt to changes, many locals are still struggling to find a new normal amidst the shifting seasons.
The Bristol Bay Times - Serving Dillingham, Naknek, King Salmon and Southwest villages
A seawall planned for Utqiagvik is aimed at protecting residents from extreme storms while preserving their connection to the ocean.
Two brothers, one dead and one experiencing hypothermia, were found about two miles from Pilot Station after their snowmachine became stuck in heavy snow during a storm.
With homes dilapidating, shores eroding and staircases falling off the houses, Point Lay residents are living through some of the most severe consequences of the warming climate in Alaska.
At Unalaska's Tom Madsen Airport, temperatures haven't dropped below freezing yet this month. And in Cold Bay, the average temperature is running more than 8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, making this the second warmest start to February since World War II.
After 100 highs, Utqiagvik marks record low temperature
The Arctic Sounder - Serving the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope
The ice conditions are similar to last year (with) lots of young ice and close leads," said Captain Frederick Brower. "We all went out and broke trail to the edge, but a high west wind came along and added about three-quarters to 1 mile of ice and (we) had to break trail through that and began whaling from the new edge ... . The conditions were not favorable but we made due with what we had and continued on with our whaling season."
The two men, who were both part of an active whaling crew, were in one of the boats on a towline, towing a whale to shore, when their boat flipped, according to fellow whalers who were there when it happened.
At least 60 ice seals have been found dead across northern and western Alaska this month. As of early this week, reports of dead seals had come in from the Norton Sound region, the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope.
There are over one hundred and forty landslides along the Denali Park road, the 92 mile road through Denali National Park and Preserve. None are more threatening than the Pretty Rocks Landslide at Polychrome Pass.
Shaktoolik has lost its berm to the storm that’s hammered Western Alaska over the weekend, according to Mayor Lars Sookiayak. The berm was all that protected the small village from the sea. “It really saved us from the first hit that came in this morning,” one resident said.
Most of Anchorage is currently covered in ice, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to ski.
A wayward walrus calf, just one month old, was rescued from the North Slope. Workers on the North Slope spotted the baby walrus on tundra, about four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea.
Alaska is one of the only places in the world where peony flowers grow in the summer months. But the unusually cold, wet weather this year is delaying the blooms by weeks.
All schools in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Borough are closed Wednesday due to slick roads across the region, as snowfall continues. “This is the heaviest snowfall the Anchorage area has seen in over 20 years,” said state Department of Transportation spokesman Justin Shelby. “Our crews are keeping up as best they can.”
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