Winter is off to late start in normally frigid rural Alaska
by Rachel D'oro
Winter is off to a late start in parts of rural Alaska.
Months of higher-than-normal temperatures have opened dangerous holes in frozen rivers that rural Alaskans use as roads.
One troublesome ice highway is the Kuskokwim River, where a man died New Year's Eve after driving his snowmobile into a hole.
Search and rescue teams in the southwest Alaska commercial hub of Bethel have been marking open holes on the Kuskokwim, but there were so many they ran out of reflective tape.
Climatologists say the unseasonable warmth in parts of Alaska is a factor in making last month the warmest December on record for the entire state. Experts say the sustained warmth speaks to the continuing effects of global warming.
The state is shifting to a cooler trend this week.
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