Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed at an exhibition farm in Newfoundland, Canada. The OIE report identified the affected birds as “non-poultry including wild birds.” On the premises, there were 419 susceptible birds. Of those, 360 died and the remaining 59 were euthanized. A Canada goose died from avian influenza on in the Halifax area on February 2 (see related articles).

Back-to-back winter storms hit Nome and the region with very strong, screaming winds and accompanying blowing snow. While the first storm on Friday seemed just like a warm up, the second storm hit the region with very strong winds that knocked out power in Wales, ripped buildings apart in Golovin and brought water levels up 6.73 feet over normal. The high winds also pushed away ice cover.

Unalakleet’s supply of water was running on empty following a nasty freeze-up at the end of December. Freezing rain led to a frozen pool of standing water that shifted the community’s pump house before the New Year. This dropped the flow of water into the water tank and levels were down to two feet earlier the first week of January.

Earlier this week, a pod of about nine Bowhead whales were seen off the northern coast of Savoonga but young ice conditions around St. Lawrence Island prevented hunting. If local hunters hauled a whale out onto young ice, it would break apart.

“Whatever led up to the situation where all the sudden we don't have any fuel in the dead of winter, and with all these storms coming through, is beyond me,” said St. George resident Victor Malavansky. “I would like to say this is totally unacceptable.”

“This new snow has no name,” said Lars-Anders Kuhmunen, a reindeer herder from Kiruna, Sweden’s northernmost town, near the Norwegian border. “I don’t know what it is. It is like early tjaevi, which normally comes in March. The winters are warmer now and there is rain, making the ground icy. The snow on top is very bad snow and the reindeer can’t dig for their food.”

Strong south winds hit 71 miles per hour in St. Michael, Shishmaref had its sea ice blown away and the Nome Airport saw 0.64 inches of precipitation – mostly in the form of rain - last weekend. The storm that hit on Saturday, Dec. 18 and continued all day Sunday brought the total precipitation for December thus far to 2.04 inches.

An approximate 69% of adult razor clams at Ninilchik beaches and 84% at Clam Gulch beaches have died. The department said the cause of the high natural mortality rate of the clams remains unknown, but may be due to a combination of heavy surf, habitat changes, environmental stressor and predation.

One of the largest caribou herds in North America has declined by nearly a quarter in the past two years, hitting a population level that justifies new hunting restrictions. The news was delivered last week at the annual meeting of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group, an advisory organization with representatives of villages dependent

She was then driven immediately to the hospital, where she got treatment for a potential rabies infection. Over the past month, there has been an increase in fox sightings and cases of rabies in foxes in the communities of Igloolik and Iqaluit. A fox was confirmed to have rabies in Igloolik on Dec. 14, while two foxes have been reported to have rabies in Iqaluit over the past five weeks.

Kodiak residents went to the trails on Sunday, taking advantage of record-breaking high temperatures. The Kodiak Airport reported temperatures reached 65 degrees that day, the warmest temperature ever recorded in Kodiak between Oct. 5 and April 21 of any year.

Spring like thaw a week after winter begins: During the 3 days it got warm and the water going its usual route as it does in the spring when it thaws out, but this was a week after winter began.

Department of Transportation crews are battling a thick coating of ice on roads, and the local utility, Golden Valley Electric, continues working to restore electricity to pockets of customers.

Changing weather with a lot of snow, rain and strong frost with icing, has made it difficult for the reindeer to reach lichen and moss on the ground in Nordland.

Concern builds as rain increases weight of snow pack

Extreme weather event Gyda already set 20 new January precipitation records in Norway. Vinjeøra in Trøndelag was closed due to extreme damage. NRK reporter Arne Kristian Gansmo compares the asphalt with "an accordion".

Close to 300 birds were found during a sweep of East Fjords beaches. No sign of bird flu was found in samples from dead seabirds. It is thought likely the birds died of hunger, as most were very thin. No widespread seabird deaths have been reported in any other region at this time.

Since November, six foxes and three dogs in Nunavut have been found to be infected with rabies. Wednesday’s fox attack brings the total to seven foxes and five dogs with likely rabies infections.

The nearly 3.5 inches at the city’s official monitoring station was a daily record – the most rain that’s fallen on January 21st ever – and also a monthly record – the most rain that has ever fallen in January.

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.

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.

The report came from game managers in the Chukotka region. Predators were noticed on the night of February 17-18 and were driven away from the settlement on snowmobiles by employees of the "Bear Patrol". Earlier, a similar incident occurred in Lavrentiya. At the same time, in the village of Ryrkaypiy, Egvekinot city district, where from year to year the walrus rookery attracted dozens of polar predators, everything is still calm due to the vast ice field.

The main Bering Sea ice pack has begun its retreat to the north after extending to the Pribilofs earlier this month. This winter’s freeze-up has been reminiscent of more historical sea ice conditions.

The spill followed a sudden rise in warm temperatures in recent days. Hooper Bay Mayor Sandra Hill said that the thaw and rain had melted the previously frozen land surrounding the sewage lagoon, causing a wall of the lagoon to cave.