Brodie Thomas
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 28, 2008

BEAUFORT DELTA - Temperature records were shattered throughout the Mackenzie Delta earlier this month as a low pressure system brought warm air from the Pacific into the region.

New temperature records for January 20, 2007 Tuktoyaktuk, new record -4.4 C, old record -7.0 C (date set 1981) Aklavik, new record, -0.5 C, old record -1.1 C (date set 1962) Fort McPherson, new record +5.9 C, old record +1.5 C (date set 1991) Inuvik, +1.7 C tied record from 1962.

The warmest temperatures were seen in Fort McPherson where the mercury hit 5.9 C on Jan. 20. Light rain was also reported. The average maximum temperature for January in Fort McPherson is -23 C.

Weather records have been kept in Fort McPherson since 1892. The previous record for that day was 1.5 C set in 1991.

On Sunday, Inuvik tied a record of 1.7 C set in 1962, and on Monday it broke a 1981 record of -5.3 C when the temperature hit 2.1 C.

The ice road between Inuvik and Tuk was closed on Monday due to high winds and blowing snow, although it had reopened by late afternoon. The short burst of warm weather did no lasting damage to the Peel and Mackenzie Ice Crossings on the Dempster Highway, said Gurdev Jagpal, the regional superintendent of transportation.

Lennie Emaghok was hunting polar bears on the ice outside Tuktoyaktuk when the warm front moved in.

"It was kind of nice not to be freezing your face all the time," said Emaghok. "I had to stop a few times to cool the Ski-Doo off."

Although he enjoyed the temporary relief from the cold, Emaghok is concerned about the larger warming trend that he and others have been seeing.

"I noticed this year the ice formed quite a bit later, I think because of global warming." he said. "It just took longer for the ice to form. I'm noticing the open water is so much closer to shore. It just stayed there for a long time until it got down around 30 below."

Emaghok said that the wind has been out of the east this year, when usually it is from the north or north-west. He thinks that the easterly wind has blown any forming ice out to sea.

"Maybe it's just this year it's been happening but I think it's quite different," said Emaghok.

Although records were broken for those dates, warm spells in the dead of winter are not completely unheard of.

"I've seen it rain in February before on the coast here," said Tuk resident Eddie Dillon, "but it was -35 C last week and then all of a sudden it's above zero. It's scary."

Residents should not be too concerned about a brief warm spell such as this said Environment Canada meteorologist Yvonne Bilan-Walace.

"We've just had a low pressure disturbance come through the Delta and it brought a lot of warm air from the Pacific into the area," she said. "Now this system has gone by and people will have noticed the stronger winds have kicked in. Temperatures are starting to go down again."