Juneau’s urban avalanche forecast describes “extreme” danger Saturday evening. Centennial Hall will open as an emergency shelter at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Michael Hamilton, who worked at Valdez Heli-Ski Guides, died Monday in one of numerous avalanches that have been occurring in the Southcentral Alaska backcountry recently. Several recent large wet slab avalanches reported throughout the Chugach are believed to be connected to a buried crust that formed around late October, she said. A warm storm system last week also weakened the snowpack because it added weight and heat.
Auto shops are seeing more business because of damaged tires, and drivers are often inching through a messy maze of bad road conditions. Road crews are making headway but still catching up from unfavorable weather last month.
The flooding started when large chunks of ice jammed at Deneki bridge, according to an advisory issued by the National Weather Service.
That hurts coastal communities that hunt on the ice. But colder weather may be coming, at least to some portions of Alaska. Ice should be hugging the coast near the village of Gambell, perched on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, said Mayor Susan Apassingok, on Tuesday. But ice isn't there.
Climate change has allowed spotted seals to find new hunting grounds, but the marine mammals ultimately depend on sea ice to survive.
Muldrow Glacier on the north side of Denali is surging for the first time since the 1950s — moving 50 to 100 times faster than its usual pace. The surge was first glimpsed by K2 Aviation pilot Chris Palm last month. “I was thinking it looks really difficult to get onto the glacier right now,” Palm said. “It’s all shattered and torn up and jagged ice and deep crevasses everywhere.” The event could impact mountaineers scheduled to use the north approach to the mountain .
Danny Foster and Mike Hawley of Kivalina were ice fishing outside of town when they came upon something they’d never seen before. Incidentally, similar ice balls or ice eggs were reported on an ocean beach in Finland on the same day.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood advisory for Kenai Lake and the Kenai River near Cooper Landing.
It's possible the trio’s canoe was upset by a calving, or shedding, piece of ice. Although all three were wearing life jackets, none was wearing a wetsuit to protect against the frigid water.
After being buried, the trapped hiker was able to kick his legs free. A hiker passing by spotted his feet sticking out of the snow.
Alvin Williams was reported missing on May 2. His body was found Sunday, troopers said.
A total of 14.7 inches of snow fell between 8 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday, barely eclipsing the previous record for the date of 14.6 inches, set in 1970.
“When I first started six years ago, icebergs like this were more common,” says a tour boat captain on the lake near Anchorage.
The incident appears similar to an oil and gas release in 2017 blamed on thawing permafrost and hot production fluids.
A 7-foot "wall of ice" from a Susitna River ice jam slammed into Alaska Railroad tracks north of Talkeetna on Saturday, pushing the rails 25 feet off course, the railroad said Monday.The Alaska Railroad is racing to make repairs in time for the start of its tourist season on Wednesday.
The pair were hoisted from 140 feet above, according to Guard officials. Flooding continues to be a concern in the area.
In the earliest breakup since the contest began in 1917, the Nenana Ice Classic Tripod fell early this morning.
Arctic sea ice last month reached its greatest extent for the season, and it was the lowest in the satellite record. Now researchers say that ice is also younger and thinner than it once was.
Jeffrey Cheng, 33, died in the slide. One of his friends managed to hold on to a tree as waves of avalanche debris washed over his head. The third member of their group wasn’t caught.
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