Climate
RSSAlaska News tracks climate impacts across Alaska, including permafrost thaw, drought conditions, sea ice changes, extreme weather.
Much of the Beaufort Sea's ice melted out in August after a cold, late start
A cold, cloudy spring slowed the melt off Alaska's north coast. Then August opened a hole north of Utqiaġvik, and much of the Beaufort's ice was gone.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2d ago2 min read
Kenai's council will award a bluff erosion contract the day after bids close
Kenai's council votes Sept. 30 on an erosion contract with blanks where the contractor and the price go. Bids do not close until the day before.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago1 min read
Arctic's warmest summer since 1950 included the rain that flooded the Susitna Valley
The July rain that flooded the Susitna Valley is now logged as an extreme event of the warmest Arctic summer since 1950, according to a new climate review.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Alaska's August was warmer than its July, for the fourth time in a century
August was warmer than July in Alaska this year, which has happened four times since 1924. July was the coldest since 2008 and kept the fires down.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Nine EPA climate grants for Alaska projects ended with 99 percent of $151 million unspent
$151 million in federal climate grants for Alaska tribes ended with less than 1% spent. One $20 million award was terminated the same day it was signed.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago3 min read
Two Arctic climate-data sources lose federal funding, kept alive by others
Two Arctic climate-data sources Alaska relies on lost their federal funding this past year. Both are now kept alive by universities and private groups.
by Alaska Newsadded 2w ago2 min read
High wind warnings for the northwest coast as Arctic logs warmest summer since 1950
The Arctic had its warmest summer since 1950, and the water off Alaska's northwest coast still ran cold. That coast now gets gusts to 65 mph.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Anchorage youth can apply for $1,000 to $5,000 climate project grants
Anchorage residents ages 15 to 24 can apply for $1,000 to $5,000 for local climate projects, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Applications close Oct. 18.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Researchers get $812,016 to study Glacier Bay's iceberg seal habitat
Glacier Bay's harbor seals pup on icebergs. The glacier making those icebergs slowed 45 percent, and researchers got $812,016 to study what that means.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Sea ice loss has swamped El Niño's grip on Arctic autumns
El Niño used to cool Arctic autumns, but sea ice loss has swamped that signal — just as forecasters expect a possibly record-strong El Niño this fall.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Dalton Highway repairs begin Wednesday, narrowing it to one lane
Dalton Highway repairs at Milepost 315 start Wednesday with 24-hour flagging and up to 20-minute delays, narrowing the North Slope's main supply route to one lane.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Drones are dropping chaff over Nenana to try to stop lightning
A Vancouver startup is dropping metallic chaff from drones over Nenana to try to stop lightning before it starts wildfires. The flights run through Sept. 30.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago3 min read
Salmon dying off in Prince of Wales drainages amid low, warm water
Salmon are dying off in several Prince of Wales Island streams, where low, warm water from drought has killed fish and stranded survivors in shrinking pools.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
The state gave Red Dog another decade of eased water limits as the mine looks to run longer
Alaska extended Red Dog's wastewater permit 10 years, to 2036, past the mine's own expected ore life, citing thawing permafrost with no available remedy.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
UAF will study the landslides thawing under Alaska's pipeline
A UAF researcher will study why landslides start deep in thawing permafrost, aiming to protect Alaska's infrastructure — including the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
NOAA pulled the plug on its 20-year Arctic climate record — and Alaska's scientists are scrambling to save it
NOAA cut its 20-year Arctic warming record, written largely by Alaskans — and UAF scientists are now scrambling to publish the 2026 edition themselves.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
From California to Southeast Alaska, salmon fisheries are closing in lockstep this week — under the same treaty
Southeast Alaska's king troll fishery hit its treaty cap and closed the same week West Coast fisheries are closing — all tied to the same shared Chinook.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Erosion is forcing Alaska to move the Noatak airport two miles west
The Noatak River has eroded to within about 160 feet of the village's airport — its only lifeline — so Alaska is moving the whole airport two miles west.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
As Alaska's glaciers retreat, new carbon-storing bogs are forming behind them
As Alaska's glaciers retreat, new carbon-storing peat bogs are forming on the bare ground behind them. A UAF grant will map how they form and how long they last.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Heavy sea ice off Alaska's north coast keeps shipping routes shut
Sea ice off Alaska's north coast is the heaviest in over 20 years, keeping Arctic shipping routes shut and complicating the resupply coastal villages depend on.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
The Gulf of Alaska's ocean station was saved. The funding still isn't.
The Gulf of Alaska's deep-sea monitoring station was saved from removal — but the money to keep the network Alaska's fisheries rely on is still unsettled.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Alaska's senators move to shore up the NSF office that funds most UA research
Alaska's senators want to make permanent the NSF office that funds most UA research — even as the Trump budget would cut NSF by more than half.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
AVCP chief executive presents on Arctic typhoons as Inuit assembly closes in Iqaluit
AVCP's CEO presented on Arctic typhoons at an Inuit assembly in Iqaluit, highlighting how Typhoon Halong destroyed homes and displaced hundreds in Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages in October 2025.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
High water has Southcentral anglers waiting it out
Flooding has Southcentral anglers mostly sidelined — weirs underwater, creeks blown out, and 12-foot waves hitting the Kenai dipnet beaches.
by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Chukchi and Beaufort Seas carry most ice in decades, even as Arctic shrinks
Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska hold the most summer ice in decades, bucking the Arctic's overall decline as Atlantic-side ice hits record lows.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Seven straight months below normal: what drove Alaska's chilly first half of 2026
Alaska's seven-month cold streak through June 2026 was its longest since the mid-1970s, but climate analysis shows it reflects short-term weather variability, not a reversal of long-term warming.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
More than 200 Alaska watersheds have turned orange
Uh-ohh. More than 200 Brooks Range watersheds have turned orange in a decade as thawing permafrost releases iron and metals — rusting rivers that villages drink from and fish.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A tale of two Junes at the top of the world
Alaska's North Slope just had its coolest June since 2018 — even as the wider Arctic logged its warmest since 1950. Same month, opposite stories.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
A strong El Niño is likely this winter, warm and wet for Southern Alaska
A strong El Niño is 90% likely this winter, tilting Southern Alaska warmer and wetter — but on the coast that often means rain over snow, and the Interior may stay dry.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
As Alaska's permafrost thaws, its rivers are running rusty.
Thawing permafrost is leaching iron into Alaska's streams, turning some of them rusty orange and threatening subsistence fish — and a new Army contract will trace where it's coming from.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Heatwave-driven mortality identified as key cause of Yukon Chinook crash
A new study pins the Yukon Chinook collapse on heatwave-driven deaths of young salmon at sea, not just low recruitment or overharvest, meaning harvest closures alone won't fix the crash.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Beaufort Sea nearly ice-locked in early July, a level unseen since before 2001
The southern Beaufort Sea is nearly ice-locked in early July with less than 0.3 percent open water, the highest ice extent since 2000.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Barents Sea hits record low ice while Beaufort stays locked, splitting Arctic in two
Barents Sea hit record low ice in June while Alaska's Beaufort Sea stayed locked, shifting when North Slope communities can hunt and travel.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min read
Chukchi Sea ice runs above median for third straight late June
Sea ice off Wainwright sits thick and late for the third straight June, delaying walrus and whale hunts in an Iñupiat community where ice sets the hunt's terms.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Taku River glacial outburst flood warning in effect until 11 p.m. tonight
A glacial outburst flood warning is in effect on the Taku River until 11 p.m. tonight, with fast water and debris hazardous to boaters.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alyeska Seeks Land to Armor the Pipeline Against Floods
Alyeska wants more North Slope land to wall the pipeline off from flooding — the same week the rivers are rising, and a year after the Sag took out the Dalton Highway for real.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
60 mph gusts forecast for Portage, Anchorage Hillside Sunday
Strong winds with gusts to 60 mph will hit Portage and Anchorage Hillside on Sunday, with potential for downed trees and power outages.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Utqiaġvik records second-coldest May high in 105 years
Utqiaġvik recorded its second-coldest May high in 105 years at 29°F while most of the Arctic ran warm, triggering river ice jams that flooded Holy Cross and its airstrip in late May.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Fairbanks spruce pollen hits season high in UAF count
Fairbanks spruce pollen hit a season record of 346 grains per cubic meter on June 5, according to University of Alaska Fairbanks counts that track allergy triggers and climate patterns.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Alyeschem breaks ground on North Slope methanol plant
Alyeschem broke ground May 15 on Alaska's first Arctic petrochemical plant at Prudhoe Bay, converting natural gas into methanol with AIDEA's $70 million financing and operations expected by late 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
