EventUnalakleet elder Papa’s traditional Inupiaq weather‑forecasting—tied to the native term ‘Sila’—confronts rising storm risk as Typhoon Halong struck Alaska in fall 2023, flooding 45 communities and forcing residents of Kipnugk and Kwigillingok to relocate. The governor declared a state emergency and the president approved a federal disaster declaration amid evidence that warming oceans and permafrost thaw are turning rare storms into an annual threat.
An Inupiaq elder’s traditional weather‑forecasting routine is set against the backdrop of Typhoon Halong’s 2023 flooding of 45 Western Alaska communities, prompting state and federal disaster declarations amid rising storm frequency driven by warming oceans.
A former Inupiaq weather‑forecaster’s stories illustrate how his community’s traditional knowledge of “Sila” is now being tested by the growing frequency and intensity of Alaskan fall storms, including Typhoon Halong’s flooding that forced residents to relocate.
Typhoon Halong struck Alaska’s western coast last fall, flooding 45 communities and forcing the complete relocation of residents in Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. State and federal disaster declarations were issued as a warming ocean and thawing permafrost increased storm frequency from roughly once‑per‑century to an annual threat.
