The Western Arctic Caribou Herd has been declining for years, and the migration patterns of the animals have been changing. In several locations in Northwest Alaska, caribou have been arriving later and later in the season. Friday last week, people in Kotzebue finally started seeing caribou — hundreds of them ― crossing the Kotzebue Sound north of town, coming from the Noatak riverside. Ice conditions are one of the reasons for the caribou’s late migration, said Thomas Baker, chair of the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council.
The first observations of orchids in the area were in 2020. Now they are becoming more common.
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.
More than 50 birds and a seal were found along the shoreline.
The flooding was caused by a weather system that moved up to the Bering Sea from the tropics, and raised water levels and dumped rain across much of western Alaska.
Murres along Cape Thompson are migrating earlier, allowing coastal community residents to collect eggs a few weeks earlier than normal.
Because of the increased travel distance, only families with larger boats were able to participate in the hunt and bring back enough to make the trip cost effective. With a heavier load in the boat, one family ran out of gas trying to get home and had to be rescued.
Willows budding about a month early 30 miles above the Arctic Circle.
Summer rain affecting subsistence food preservation.
Unseasonably warm in Arctic.
Folks here are famous for being able to handle the cold, but anything wet in December has always made us nervous. Especially wet falling from the sky. Lately, weather, our favorite nemesis, has broken the rules. Our confidence in the most-trustworthy feature of the Arctic -- winter -- has been wounded.
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