The water keeps coming back to Kotzebue Sound

For the second time in two days, forecasters warned the sea would climb above its normal line along Kotzebue Sound — 1 to 2 feet high at Kotzebue, Kivalina, and Red Dog Dock.

On its own, a rise like this is minor. The weight is in the pattern. Kotzebue Sound flooded badly in October 2024 and again in October 2025, hitting roads, homes, docks, fish camps, and sewage systems.

University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers call back-to-back Octobers like that unprecedented for this coast, and a warning of what's coming. One lifelong Kotzebue resident, who lives by the sea wall, said last October's water was the highest they had ever seen.