ANCHORAGE — Alaska’s heat wave is driving wildfires and melting glaciers, choking the state’s biggest cities with smoke and bloating rivers with meltwater. In all, there were 354 wildfires covering 443,211 acres in Alaska as of Sunday morning, according to state and federal fire managers. Along with the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, which had multiple active fires, iconic spots with fires burning include Denali National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “This very warm weather, on top of the warm May, the very early snowmelt, then we had those two weeks of lightning strikes — it’s the classic setup,” Thoman said. (Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage, Alaska Editing by Rich McKay and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: National Post July 01, 2019 06:45 UTC