For only the second time in the last decade, temperatures on February 10 in Nome poked into the 30s. One day later, shorefast ice released its grip on Nome’s coastline and floated out to sea. Deep blue water was visible along the shore where chunky, white ice persisted for several months.
“It's very, very surprising to see here in mid-February the ice breaking off so close to shore,” Climate Specialist, Rick Thoman, said. “We have not seen something like this since the spring of 2019.”
Thoman said this year’s mild weather is likely to blame, including high winds in the early winter that made it difficult for fast ice to form. He said December and January combined for the second strongest winds in the past 45 years.
Thoman said cooler weather is around the corner and that the ice will likely come back, but warned that it may be jumbled and weak. He encouraged crabbers to consider their safety before working on the ice.
“This is obviously not a good thing,” Thoman said. “Yes, the ice will come back, but it might very well not be good crabbing ice.”
Tuesday afternoon a portion of the Nome National Forest –a collection of discarded Christmas trees propped up in the ice– drifted into the Bering Sea on an ice floe.
In 2019, three men were trapped on sea ice near Nome that unexpectedly separated from the shore. The trio were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard by helicopter.
