August 2026 News Updates

Juneau Glacier Dam Release Flooding and Arctic Report Card

Just a couple of quick notes:

Juneau Mendenhall River Flooding

The now “every-August” glacial lake outburst flooding on the Mendenhall River near Juneau is now (Noon AKDT August 12 ) underway, as water has broken through the ice dam at Suicide Basin. This is a rapidly changing situation as water levels rise rapidly and then subside almost as fast during these events. Some useful links:

• KTOO Juneau live coverage, including streaming webcams (example below), here.

• NWS Juneau Suicide Basin webpage, with frequent updates, here.

• University of Alaska Southeast flood dashboard is here.

For the background on this flooding, see my post from August 2025: “Juneau’s Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding”.

The Mendenhall River at 1:41pm AKDT Wednesday August 12. The River was about 3 feet below flood stage at this time. Image courtesy KTOO.

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Arctic Report Card

On Monday, August 10, 2026, after 20 years, NOAA suspended all support for the Arctic Report Card, and this has now been widely reported in Alaska and the national press.

I am devastated by this development, having worked for NOAA for 30 years. I’ve been a coauthor on the surface air temperature essay for more than a decade and an editor of the Arctic Report Card since 2020. This year I am the lead editor of report card. In the 72 hours since this decision hit, there has been an outpouring of support for the Report Card, from essay authors to large organizations.

The editorial team (Matthew Druckenmiller and Twila Moon at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and myself) has been working hard since we were informed of this decision to produce a “sans NOAA” Arctic Report Card. While the details are yet to be fleshed out, I am optimistic that is there a path to continue to produce the Report Card in 2027 and beyond. I was less sure what we could do this year, given that we’re already well into the production cycle, but just today it’s looking more likely we’ll be able to produce a timely, peer-reviewed Arctic Report Card 2026.