Lots of sea ice north
Sea ice was mostly gone from the Bering Sea by early June, which is typical for recent years. However, ice has been much slower to melt in the north. In the Chukchi Sea, ice on the Alaska side has largely melted away southward of Point Lay. However, high concentration ice remains from near Wainwright to Utqiaġvik.
On the Russian side of the southern Chukchi Sea, ice has been slow to melt northwest of Kolyuchin Bay, as it was in summer 2024. Overall, sea ice extent in the Chukchi Sea is the highest for mid-July since 2000, though only a little bit higher than in mid-July 2024.
The Beaufort also still has extensive sea ice. Except for some melt areas near the mouths of major rivers, there's hardly any open water on the Alaska side of the Beaufort Sea.
On the Canadian side, we're seeing some lower ice concentrations and open water offshore of the Mackenzie River delta.
For Nome and the Bering Strait region, all this means that conventional marine traffic from the Northwest Passage (Atlantic Ocean through Canada to Alaska) or the Northern Sea Route (off of the northern Russian coast) is still weeks away. It is possible that the Northwest Passage may not open to non-ice hardened vessels this summer, or more likely, it will be open only for a short period from late August to mid-September.
It's expected that the Northern Sea Route will fully open next month, allowing more ships to pass through the Bering Strait on the way to ports in Asia.