Extreme winds and cold temperatures have affected the areas. At one point over the weekend, 20,000 households in Mat-Su lost power.
This has become the new norm across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Late winters and sudden thawing have turned roads into slush and made rivers and sloughs, which are necessary for travel, less safe because they take longer to freeze.
The lack of winter sea ice is keeping temperatures warm. Climatologist Rick Thoman says it's a "very clear climate change signal."
The Arctic’s like an air conditioner or refrigerator for the global climate...And as the Arctic warms, partly because the sea ice is going away, it’s like you’re opening that refrigerator door.
The Yukon, Tanana, Koyukuk, Kuskokwim and Susitna basins all have more snowpack than usual — and some are well above normal.
The Kuskokwim River breakup has led to widespread flooding, affecting roads and drinking water in several communities, with Kwethluk experiencing significant impacts.
Climate change is thawing the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s permafrost, and it’s doing more than cracking foundations, sinking roads and accelerating erosion.
Flooding on Willow Creek Saturday night and Sunday has led to seven families being evacuated, with five people taking shelter at the Willow Community Center. The Willow Fire Department, Mat-Su Animal Care and the Mat-Su Water Rescue Team organized to assist those impacted by the flood.
"These ridges that we’re standing on, there would have been more of them, and they would have been bigger," ice researcher Andy Mahoney said. "The features that we now see, they’re something of a shadow from the past." Listen now
One ecologist wonders, for the yellow cedar forests and the people who care about them, what comes after climate change and environmental loss in Southeast Alaska?
Every winter, a massive infrastructure project takes place on the North Slope one thats designed to disappear. Ice roads are built to minimize the oil industrys footprint on the sensitive tundra, and melt away in spring. Many of the oil industrys multi-million dollar projects on the North Slope cant be built until the ice roads are finished each year.
“I think it was a little more stable, and there was a little bit more assurance that the ice you were on was not going to disintegrate on you that easy,” said whaling captain Gordon Brower.
A new study quantifies the rate at which Eklutna Glacier is losing its icy mass. Between 1957 and 2010, the loss of glacier mass averaged 5 percent a year.
An early melt-out date can make for an especially bad wildfire season, but this year, it’s right on schedule for much of the state. Listen now
Sport fishermen are struggling to reel in the rainbow trout and Dolly Varden that usually are so abundant in fall.
Persistent warm temperatures the last few weeks have melted much of the snow, including stockpiles the city tried to set aside.
Thinning sea ice puts walruses nearly out of reach. The federal government may list walruses as an endangered species. And ivory bans elsewhere are making it hard for walrus-tusk carvers to sell their art.
With Halloween just over a week out, Fairbanks is looking at the potential of a third straight year with minimal snow cover, and a possible first ever green Halloween.
Flooding that halted Alaska Railroad trains north of Talkeetna Saturday, has receded, but train traffic remains shut down. Listen now
As snow machines zoomed past, Dennis Davis set up his new drone. According to Davis, blue ice is more solid than white. Those are areas hunters can travel across more safely as they search for marine mammal prey.
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