Alaska Parks See Fire And Rain

Parks in Alaska have been dealing with the elements – lots of fire in some areas and too much rain in other areas.

Flooding closed the Exit Glacier portion of Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska for a second day on Thursday, and more rain was expected on Friday.

The city of Seward, where park headquarters is located, received nearly two-and-a-half inches of rain between Tuesday and Wednesday – a typical rainfall total for the entire month of July. A total of up to three more inches of rain was expected through Friday and flood advisories were in effect through Friday afternoon. Rains also brought travel advisories on the Seward Highway, the park's road connection to the rest of Alaska, and caused landslides which brought Alaska Railroad access to the city to a halt on Wednesday and Thursday. Flood damage has also closed one runway at the city's airport.

While Kenai Fjords was wading in water and hosting temperatures in the 50s, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve in northeastern Alaska was baking with temperatures nearing 90. The unit also saw a new lightning-caused fire which raced 11 miles between Wednesday and Thursday. Alaska regional fire communications specialist, Morgan Warthin, said the run was tracked by heat detecting satellite images, but the fire area remains too smoky to get an accurate perimeter or acreage estimate.

When the fire is mapped, it will join several large fires burning across Alaska's parks. The Chakina fire has burned nearly 50,000 acres south of McCarthy in Wrangell-St. Elias NP. It's been burning for a month and is winding down with damp and cool weather. The Ruth fire on the south side of Denali has remained small, but is notable because it is burning in vegetation on top of a glacier. Larger fires totaling about 70,000 acres are burning on the park's western and northern boundaries. Denali and much of interior Alaska have had smoke throughout the last few weeks from other large fires, including the Railbelt complex of fires north of Denali, which has now topped 300,000 acres. The interior fires have been pushed by occasionally strong winds and long stretches of warm, dry weather.

High winds also played a role in two other Alaska incidents in the last few days. On July 25th, Katmai's visitor center and auditorium at Brooks Camp became dormitories for 63 people stuck at the remote site because high winds prevented departures by planes or boats. One floatplane flipped on takeoff that afternoon from Books, and five people were rescued by park and concession staff. A fishing guide and two clients were also stranded in another remote section of Katmai when winds reached 75 miles per hour. They spent a "restless" night with patrol rangers, sharing a tent, food and sleeping bags.