Lake Change in Sanak

Observation by Arlene Gunderson:

While doing work on Sanak Island we have notice a couple of the lakes on the south side of the island have dried up. We had a very dry summer, don’t think that totally accounts for the lake that size to dry up. We noticed one more lake, and several streams that were dry. But we didn’t make it around the whole island, there could have been more, not sure. Most of the dry lakes and streams were on the south side of the island. I am thinking this is one of many lakes that cattle use for drinking. Be interesting to see if they have filled up again with the wet weather this fall and winter. We will look at that lake again when we make it back to the island.

Comments from LEO Editors:

During autumn 2019, parts of the Alaska Peninsula experienced unusually dry conditions as seen in the US Drought Monitor map below. During 2020, the nearby community of Cold Bay has experienced warmer temperatures than normal during the year, along with less precipitation than usual.