The collapse last week of an ice shelf the size of New York City was the first time scientists have ever seen an ice shelf collapse in this cold area of Antarctica.
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.
More than 1,000 domestic poultry and hundreds of wild birds have died or needed to be euthanized in the state since early spring. Since the first case of a deadly strain of avian flu was detected in Alaska in May, more than 1,000 domestic poultry and hundreds of wild birds have died or needed to be euthanized.
Forecasters say they are measuring near-record moisture in a storm system expected to bring heavy rain and wind to the region, ramping up Friday night and into Saturday.
With few fish and limited berries, bear encounters are high in Alaska's capital city this year.
The average temperature in July was 48.4 degrees — 6.7 degrees above normal, with 11 hot days in a row. Such extreme warmth can accelerate the greening and permafrost thaw on the North Slope.
The storm brought winds up to 40 mph to communities from Wainwright to Kaktovik, weather officials said. High waves damaged a road in Utqiagvik, affecting around five houses, residents reported.
Five people stayed overnight Friday on Ruth Glacier. On Saturday, guides led them to a shelter about 3.5 miles away, A historic storm dropped record amounts of snow throughout Interior Alaska during the last few days..
Kivalina residents report cracks on the sides of the recently built evacuation road which connects the village to the storm refuge site and the school. The team with the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities plans to visit the village and assess the damages at the end of August.
The source of the spill, a drain area about a quarter-mile uphill from the coastline, was stopped on Monday, authorities reported. And oil on the water has been contained to a site near a small boat harbor at the terminal where tankers load up with oil.
Volunteers at the Whittier Slug-Out learned about Alaska’s invasive species and helped mitigate European black slugs near a popular cove on Prince William Sound.
A total of 94 brown bears, five black bears and five wolves were killed in the program that began May 10 and ended June 4, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said this week. That’s more than four times the number biologists predicted would be taken. State biologists also say disease and changing food supplies might be a bigger factor overall.
It’s not often that Southcentral Alaska residents wake to thunder in the middle of the night. But what forecasters are calling an unusual storm moved from the Talkeetna Mountains into the Matanuska Valley and then Anchorage and south to the Kenai Peninsula from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. At least one lightning-caused structure fire was reported.
“It’s been hot, it’s been dry, and it’s been windy. And those winds gusts of 20 miles per hour, it’s kind of funneled through the Andreafsky River drainage,” said Beth Ipsen. Federal entities sent in more firefighters this week, and some residents are thinking about preparing their go-bags.
The highly contagious infection can lead to pneumonia and hits puppies, older dogs and dogs with health problems the hardest. Vaccination against kennel cough protects for about year.
The first half of June was Anchorage’s windiest in more than 50 years, the result of an unusually stormy spring in Alaska.
An unusually strong storm for this time of year was bringing rain and heavy winds to parts of Southcentral Alaska on Sunday.
Lytton, British Columbia, broke successive Canadian heat records early this week, with temperatures peaking at 121 degrees on Tuesday. Then the fires swept in.
Three young dogs were euthanized this week after testing positive for parvovirus, an Anchorage Animal Care and Control official said.
Environment Canada said the weather system shattered more than 100 heat records across British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon and Northwest Territories.
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