Search Results for: climate

The National Weather Service Juneau station has received more than 10 inches of snow as of 6 a.m Thursday from a storm that started Wednesday afternoon. (Screenshot from video by NWS Juneau)

Juneau appears to break January snowfall record; remote learning day for schools, city opens at 11 a.m.

Unofficial total of 76.8 inches of snow at the airport tops 75.2 inches that fell in 2009.

The National Weather Service Juneau station has received more than 10 inches of snow as of 6 a.m Thursday from a storm that started Wednesday afternoon. (Screenshot from video by NWS Juneau)
Cigarette butts are crammed into an ashtray outside one of the Atlanta office buildings used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The photo was taken in 2009, prior to the area becoming tobacco-free. In Alaska, the state’s anti-tobacco program has helped resident quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco or electronic cigarettes. (Photo by Dr. Oscar Tarragó/Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine/U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Annual report tracks Alaskans’ tobacco-cessation progress — and tallies tobacco’s costs to the state

Alaskans trying to quit their tobacco habits made some significant progress over the past year, according to the annual report released this week by the… Continue reading

Cigarette butts are crammed into an ashtray outside one of the Atlanta office buildings used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The photo was taken in 2009, prior to the area becoming tobacco-free. In Alaska, the state’s anti-tobacco program has helped resident quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco or electronic cigarettes. (Photo by Dr. Oscar Tarragó/Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine/U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
UAF Ph.D. student Audrey Rowe trowels loess soil at an archeological site in the uplands of Interior Alaska. (Photo by Mat Wooller)

Alaska Science Forum: On the ancient trail of a woolly mammoth

The female woolly mammoth was 20 years old when she stumbled amid the grasslands. She fell in a cloud of dust, then gasped her last… Continue reading

UAF Ph.D. student Audrey Rowe trowels loess soil at an archeological site in the uplands of Interior Alaska. (Photo by Mat Wooller)
A caribou from the Central Arctic herd crosses a road within the Kuparuk oil field on the North Slope of Alaska in the summer of 2019, during the mosquito harassment period. (Photo by John Severson/U.S. Geological Survey)

Oil field road traffic disrupts North Slope caribou more than previously recognized

New study raises questions about further development in the animals’ habitat

A caribou from the Central Arctic herd crosses a road within the Kuparuk oil field on the North Slope of Alaska in the summer of 2019, during the mosquito harassment period. (Photo by John Severson/U.S. Geological Survey)
Artwork from inside cover of report “Learning to Thrive: Alaska’s next economy in a warming world” by Alyssa Quintyne. (Alaska Climate Alliance)

My Turn: Two visions of Alaska’s future

After two weeks of harrowing negotiations at the COP28 summit in Dubai, world leaders and oil giants decamped after agreeing to transition away from fossil… Continue reading

Artwork from inside cover of report “Learning to Thrive: Alaska’s next economy in a warming world” by Alyssa Quintyne. (Alaska Climate Alliance)
A wolf carries a piece of prey while walking through a national park in Alaska. (National Park Service photo)

In an era of climate change, Alaska’s predators fall prey to politics

“This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.” As spring arrived in southwestern Alaska, a handful of people from… Continue reading

A wolf carries a piece of prey while walking through a national park in Alaska. (National Park Service photo)
Workers plug a cable into a Princess Cruises ship in Juneau on June 26, 2016. (Photo by John Neary)

My Turn: Marine Passenger Fee proposal for electrifying docks

Here’s a great way to clean up the air in downtown Juneau during the busy cruise ship season. The tourism manager for the City and… Continue reading

Workers plug a cable into a Princess Cruises ship in Juneau on June 26, 2016. (Photo by John Neary)
A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

Conservation group wants Alaska king salmon listed as an endangered species

Climate change, government management, competition from hatchery fish cited as reasons.

A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)
Nuiqsut is seen in an undated photo. (Karen Kasmauski/Getty Images)

As ConocoPhillips’ Willow project advances, two local governments withdraw their criticism

As ConocoPhillips begins a major winter construction season for its planned Willow oil development, the governments of a North Slope village that were among the… Continue reading

  • Jan 11, 2024
  • By Nathaniel Herz, Northern Journal, Alaska Beacon
  • Oil production
Nuiqsut is seen in an undated photo. (Karen Kasmauski/Getty Images)
Traditional foods, including herring eggs on kelp, dried pike, smoked salmon, seal oil and dried moose meat, prepared for Dillingham community members and supporters of the Smokehouse Collective, an Alaska Native mutual aid network. (Photo by Emily Sullivan/High Country News)

An Alaska Native mutual aid network tackles the climate crisis

Smokehouse Collective invests in “our resilience as Native peoples to persevere in our cultures.”

Traditional foods, including herring eggs on kelp, dried pike, smoked salmon, seal oil and dried moose meat, prepared for Dillingham community members and supporters of the Smokehouse Collective, an Alaska Native mutual aid network. (Photo by Emily Sullivan/High Country News)
Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, carries a box of signed petitions for an increased minimum wage to be delivered to the Alaska Division of Elections on Tuesday. Hall is a leader of the campaign to pass a ballot initiative increasing workers’ minimum pay, mandating paid sick leave and ensuring that workers are not required to hear employers’ political, religious or anti-union messages. Behind her are other advocates for the ballot initiative. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska advocates submit petition signatures to put minimum wage increase on ballot

Initiative also mandates paid sick leave, protects workers from political or religious messages.

Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, carries a box of signed petitions for an increased minimum wage to be delivered to the Alaska Division of Elections on Tuesday. Hall is a leader of the campaign to pass a ballot initiative increasing workers’ minimum pay, mandating paid sick leave and ensuring that workers are not required to hear employers’ political, religious or anti-union messages. Behind her are other advocates for the ballot initiative. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Fairbanks-based Alaska State Troopers visiting the Interior village of Allakaket in December 2023 pose for a photo while wearing fur hats. Such hats are provided by the state to help troopers work in cold conditions. The Department of Public Safety is now seeking to replenish its supply of fur hats to be used by troopers. (Photo provided by the Alaska State Troopers)

Fur hats on shopping list for Alaska Department of Public Safety

The Alaska Department of Public Safety is shopping for some distinctly Northern items of clothing: a collection of fur hats. The intent to buy the… Continue reading

Fairbanks-based Alaska State Troopers visiting the Interior village of Allakaket in December 2023 pose for a photo while wearing fur hats. Such hats are provided by the state to help troopers work in cold conditions. The Department of Public Safety is now seeking to replenish its supply of fur hats to be used by troopers. (Photo provided by the Alaska State Troopers)
The result of the Wrangell landslide is seen on Nov. 20. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities photo)

An Alaska climate expert reviews 2023’s weather and climate highlights

While Alaska didn’t have an ex-typhoon Merbok style widespread high impact event in 2023, there was still lots to contend with. Here’s a selection, in… Continue reading

The result of the Wrangell landslide is seen on Nov. 20. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities photo)
Participants in the 2023 VetsWork AmeriCorps interns program stand on a bridge they built in 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Mt. Adams Institute)

Neighbors briefs

Veterans internships being offered for work in Tongass National Forest In partnership with the Mt. Adams Institute, the Tongass National Forest is hiring VetsWork AmeriCorps… Continue reading

Participants in the 2023 VetsWork AmeriCorps interns program stand on a bridge they built in 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Mt. Adams Institute)
(Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service)

Neighbors: Local rescuers kick off annual Fireside Lecture Series at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center

Presentations about research, expeditions and other topics continue until March 29.

(Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service)
(Getty Images)

State compiles first comprehensive account of Alaska children’s stress and trauma

Bulletin details adverse childhood experiences that are known to lead to poor health outcomes.

(Getty Images)
Smokestack emissions are seen along the Fairbanks skyline on March 1, 2023. At left is the coal-fired heat and power plant on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Could a new Alaska coal power plant be climate friendly? An $11 million study aims to find out.

UA researchers plan to explore viability of injecting plant’s carbon emissions underground.

  • Jan 3, 2024
  • By Nathaniel Herz, Northern Journal, Alaska Beacon
  • Carbon capture
Smokestack emissions are seen along the Fairbanks skyline on March 1, 2023. At left is the coal-fired heat and power plant on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Mary Snook, a Ketchikan resident of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian ancestry, takes a photo of her fellow Alaska Natives passing by during the Celebration parade in downtown Juneau on Saturday, June 11, 2022. In the background is one of the large cruise ships docked in town for the day. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

Here are the headlines likely to loom large in 2024

Fiscal and social education matters, tourism impacts, Suicide Basin and elections among top issues.

Mary Snook, a Ketchikan resident of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian ancestry, takes a photo of her fellow Alaska Natives passing by during the Celebration parade in downtown Juneau on Saturday, June 11, 2022. In the background is one of the large cruise ships docked in town for the day. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
A U.S. Forest Service map shows Wrangell Island and the location of the Zimovia Highway, which runs along Zimovia Strait. Rockfall-mitigation work planned this summer is part of a yearslong project funded in 2020. It targets different sites than the area buried in the fatal Nov. 20 landslide. (Image from U.S. Forest Service map of the Tongass National Forest)

Rockfall-mitigation work on tap for Wrangell after deadly landslide

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is seeking bids for rockfall-prevention work along a highway in Wrangell that was the site of a… Continue reading

A U.S. Forest Service map shows Wrangell Island and the location of the Zimovia Highway, which runs along Zimovia Strait. Rockfall-mitigation work planned this summer is part of a yearslong project funded in 2020. It targets different sites than the area buried in the fatal Nov. 20 landslide. (Image from U.S. Forest Service map of the Tongass National Forest)
A skier skates on Feb. 28, 2021 to the high point of the Spencer Loop trail in the Hillside neighborhood of Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

With New Year’s resolutions on the way, Alaska health officials tout Fresh Start program

Just in time for people to declare their resolutions for 2024, the Alaska Department of Health is publicizing some success stories from a self-improvement program… Continue reading

A skier skates on Feb. 28, 2021 to the high point of the Spencer Loop trail in the Hillside neighborhood of Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)