Yellow Jacket Wasp Nesting on the Beaches in Nome

Observation by Jacob Martin:

We have not seen this on a wide-spread occasion in a number of years. They are nesting in sea weed, and making it troublesome to go to the beach.

Comments from LEO Editors:

We forwarded this post to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North for more information on wasp abundance.

Wasps thrive in warm, dry temperatures. Temperatures in Nome have been unusually warm, and snowpack over the winter was lower than usual. During 2019, Jessie Moan was interviewed for a KTUU article, saying that wasps will die in the winter and won't return to the same nests. They also feed on other insects, such as caterpillars, which can cause damage to vegetation.