The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is experiencing unusually low snowpack and heavy rainfall, with temperatures significantly above normal for January, raising concerns about potential impacts such as increased wildfire risk and infrastructure challenges.

The 2025 Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race has been delayed by two weeks due to unusually low snowfall and warm temperatures, making it difficult to ensure safe trail conditions. This extended delay is rare in the race's 46-year history, typically only postponed for a day or two.

The Holiday Classic sled dog race in Bethel, Alaska, has been postponed due to hazardous trail conditions caused by recent storms and warm temperatures.

During the Christmas bird count in Bethel, despite high winds, volunteers spotted two bald eagles and a red-breasted nuthatch, marking the first sighting of the nuthatch in 21 years of the event.

An aerial survey of the Kuskokwim River revealed variable ice conditions, impacting travel safety as the winter progresses.

Bethel, Alaska, experienced historically low July temperatures with highs in the 40s, a rare event not seen since 1971, due to an unusual cold air outbreak from the Arctic.

A stonefly nymph, common in Alaska but unfamiliar to local residents, was observed along the Kuskokwim River.

The Kuskokwim River breakup has led to widespread flooding, affecting roads and drinking water in several communities, with Kwethluk experiencing significant impacts.

Bethel Search and Rescue advises against travel on the Kuskokwim River due to dangerous conditions of open water and thin ice identified in their annual aerial survey.

Amid severely restricted fishing on the Kuskokwim River, one bright spot has been abundant sockeye salmon runs at 30,000 fish daily near Bethel.

Biologists do not expect either to reach their goals for fish reaching their spawning grounds.

The booming Bristol Bay salmon run has broken the record set just last year, while on the Yukon River, Chinook are too scarce to harvest.

In an unusual event, a pair of beluga whales swam about 60 miles up the Kuskokwim River to Bethel. After word got out, boaters pursued the belugas and took at least one of them. Now, an official is working to collect samples of the animal to better understand where it came from.

Less snow than usual fell in the area this winter. It melted early, exposing the tundra. A steady wind has dried the vegetation, and hardly any precipitation has fallen since early March. Thoman said that with no rain and abundant sunshine, the tundra has remained brown and dry. The fire still is not threatening the community of Kwethluk or any Native allotments.

A decades-long decline in salmon in the Yukon River has reached a crisis this year, forcing harvest closures and prompting emergency shipments of salmon from other regions of Alaska to river residents who are otherwise facing food shortages.

The village is losing ground three times faster than it was 10 years ago, according to studies of Napakiak’s erosion. During high tide, the river is only 64 feet from the high-schoolers’ original classroom and gets closer by the day. On windy days, waves crash against the shore where students used to play, battering it until the land relents and crumbles.

Chum returns are the lowest on record, leaving communities with empty freezers and uncertainty about getting through the winter.

The Kuskokwim River king salmon run does not look particularly strong this year, but chum numbers look even worse. Historically, around 60% of the salmon in the river at this point in the season would be chum or sockeye, but right now Bethel Test Fishery numbers show that just over 20% of the salmon are.

The Alaska Division of Forestry deployed 12 smokejumpers on an estimated 100-acre wildfire burning near the village of Akiachak in southwest Alaska Tuesday afternoon to protect a fish camp and Native allotments surrounding the fire.

The size of king salmon returning to Western Alaska rivers to spawn has been decreasing over the past few decades. Researchers at the University of Alaska