One North, Two Fire Seasons: A Review of the 2026 Wildfire Season in Alaska, Yukon, and Northwest Territories

Speakers: Rick Thoman (Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness), Heidi Strader and Jonathan Chriest (Alaska Interagency Coordination Center Predictive Services), and a Canadian Fire Expert TBD

The 2026 wildfire season told two very different stories across Northern North America. Alaska and the Yukon experienced another relatively quiet fire season, while the Northwest Territories faced a fourth consecutive summer of widespread, high-impact fires and smoke. What weather and climate patterns drove these dramatically different outcomes, and what lessons can they offer for understanding wildfire across the North?

Join the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness (ACCAP) and the Alaska Fire Science Consortium (AFSC) for a regional review of the 2026 wildfire season. Rick Thoman of ACCAP will provide the broader weather and climate context that influenced fire activity across the region, while meteorologists from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) Predictive Services and Canadian wildfire experts will review how the season unfolded in Alaska, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. Together, they will discuss notable fires, operational challenges, lessons learned, and what this year’s contrasting fire seasons may reveal about wildfire across Northern North America.

(Satellite Image: Wildfires burn in Canada’s Northwest Territories near Great Bear Lake on July 8, courtesy of MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC)