Wrangell Sentinel -

Drifting ash from a volcanic eruption in the Russian Far East forced Alaska Airlines to cancel more than 100 flights last week, including its northbound and southbound jets through Wrangell and Petersburg last Thursday and Friday.

Flights throughout Alaska had largely returned to normal by Saturday, other than a couple of missed flights to Sitka that day as a portion of the ash cloud hung around the community.

Although a “very large area” of gas left over from the ash cloud still hovered over the eastern Gulf of Alaska near Sitka by Saturday morning, most of the actual ash appeared to b...