Warm, Windy, Snowy, Wet, Cool Days!

Observation by Barbara Askoak:

Well, it used to be travelable to trapping, wood getting, and other villages by now, but not the last 3 years. We would be keeping the houses warm with woodstoves or oil stoves also and people never used to be sick so long with the flu. Nowadays, the flu is lasting longer due to warm winds 1 day, next day cool or wet air. Now our roads are slippery when there would be snow to where the children were out with their sled. Planes never cancelled as much as this year to where the flights were backed up to 3 or 4 days. Lately, we've been seeing grasses regrowing after it warms up out there.

Comments from LEO Editors:

This observation has been added to the Project Extreme or Unseasonable Weather. Residents of Lower Kalskag first reported observations of weather change in June of 2016, with early breakup, early arrivals of smelt, duck, and geese, as well as more dandelions and rain. Later that year, observers noted that the increased rain led to high water levels in the Kuskokwim River. In November of 2017, observers reported flowing river water and green plants due to warmer-than-normal temperatures. Similar observations have been made within this region, including fog in Anvik, warm winter weather in Chuathbaluk, permafrost thaw near Hooper Bay, among others. Eric Holloway from the Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center gave us a great consult for an observation of warm weather from Lower Kalskag. He wrote that warm sea surface temperatures influence seasonal temperatures, which have been noticeably warmer since 2011-2012.

This observation has been shared with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, to notify them of prolonged flu symptoms.