Delayed Freeze-Up

Observation by Gerald Analon:

I am a new member of the LEO group but have not posted anything yet from Iliamna and the only thing that I can say is in the last three years, Iliamna Lake has not been a highway due to warmer weather and not freezing until January but only for a couple months compared to 6 or 7 months from when I was younger. The climate is changing in our area and becoming warmer longer, but also not as much moisture as we used to have. Example is that we get the rains in mid- to late-September now, when we used to get the rains in July and August. These are just some examples and it has affected our berries that used to be plentiful here in our area and the last 10 years, we have had the salmon come at a later date instead of the regular time of mid-June. These are only observations that I have noticed from our community. I know that we also have less snow each year, but we actually have some snow this time and we are able to use our snow machines, which wasn’t happening in the last three years due to low snow conditions. The tundra is a lot drier during the summer months due to low snow cover, and going out to pick our subsistence berries has been a different experience because we have to find different spots that are not so dry and looking for them instead of just driving somewhere and they are there.

Comments from LEO Editors:

For more information about climate change impacts in the Lake Iliamna area, see Climate Change in Nondalton Alaska. This observation was shared with Sue Flensburg, Environmental Planner with the Bristol Bay Native Association (BBNA). BBNA is interested in traditional knowledge and tracks climate change impacts in the region. Mike Brubaker