I just finished reading "The Whale and the Supercomputer" which discusses, at length, the similarities and differences of recognizing global warming by Inupiat whalers and scientists in Utqiagvik (Barrow) and Toolik Lake Field Station.  It's a good read, but you have to work at it.
Also, I was on a fire-fighting crew in the Brooks Range near Anaktuvuk Pass in 1983.  We were responding to several fires, all lightning strikes.  I was surprised that this article indicates that lightning strikes were "Deemed impossible in northern Alaska only 30 years ago..."