Highlights

The largely warm and dry weather combined with occasional lighting strikes has produced an uptick in wildfires in July and the highest fire danger of the year to date. During the last week of July, firefighters were working at four staffed fires: the Zitziana River Fire south of Manley hot springs, the Dome Creek Fire in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Park, the Hughes Mountain Fire near Hughes and the Taixtsalda Hill Fire between Northway and Tok. There are a number of other fires which are not currently threatening any infrastructure. Please check
http://smoke.alaska.edu/current_fires.html for an overview of wildfire occurrence within the state.

While Arctic sea ice extent was at or near record low levels during much of the winter and spring, the rate of summer ice loss has not been as extreme, with relatively slow retreat in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea, with the Beaufort Sea even seeing a slight increase in extent due to ice transport from the north during the first half of the month.