Climate Watch

Sea ice

Lower temperatures and sustained north winds have pushed sea ice southward on the Alaska side of the Bering Sea, while mild temperatures for mid-winter and frequent south winds have kept ice extent...

Precipitation

Many parts of Alaska were hit with high impact weather in 2025, but Nome and most of western Alaska were comparatively spared. Early in the year, the break-off of shore fast ice in front of Nome...

Cutting Edge storm data

By Rick Thoman Alaska Climate Specialist Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness International Arctic Research Center/University of Alaska Fairbanks “How is storminess changing in...

Outlook for December

By Rick Thoman Alaska Climate Specialist Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness International Arctic Research Center/University of Alaska Fairbanks NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center...

After 2001, major shift in sea ice formation occured

By Rick Thoman Alaska Climate Specialist Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness International Arctic Research Center/University of Alaska Fairbanks Bering Strait Elders have been...

What La Niña means for Nome

Dust explained

By Rick Thoman Alaska Climate Specialist Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness International Arctic Research Center/University of Alaska Fairbanks Dust is not new to Nome and is...

Climate outlook for November

By Rick Thoman Alaska Climate Specialist Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness International Arctic Research Center/University of Alaska Fairbanks The climate outlook for November...

Typhoon Halong trekked over warmer than normal waters

Ex-typhoon Halong traversed warmer than normal sea surface on virtually its entire trek across the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. In the wake of the storm, we might have expected to see surface waters...

Ingredients of fall storms

By Rick Thoman Alaska Climate Specialist Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness International Arctic Research Center/University of Alaska Fairbanks With the fall sea storm season...