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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Mother Nature was only teasing Yellowknifers with double-digit temperatures and sunny skies during the first weekend in May.

For the rest of the month, people might need to pull those parkas back out of the closet as below-average weather sets in.

Lloyd Thrasher and Emily Lawson bundle up to fight the cold on Franklin Avenue Wednesday afternoon. - Katherine Roth/NNSL photo

The frigid conditions are something we should get used to, according to Yvonne Bilan-Wallace, a meteorologist with the Arctic Weather Centre in Edmonton.

“We're having a delayed entry to spring this year,” she said. “Winter is hanging on a little longer than most of us want it to, and it has been a really long winter this year overall.”

Bilan-Wallace said people heading out on trips for the May long weekend should be extra careful of ice conditions, since some warm weather has caused it to thin. Each year, she said, people make poor judgements causing fatalities almost every transition season.

Even those who stay in town will be feeling the effects of the cold, but should be glad we won't be getting the rainy weather that will persist over the weekend in the south, she said.

“The good news is that Yellowknife isn't getting the storms. The bad news is that a warm spring isn't going to happen.”

For people who make their living outdoors, weather is a huge factor in determining the amount of work that can be done.

Musician and busker Lloyd Thrasher said his ability to play music at his perch on Franklin Avenue has definitely been interrupted by the cruel weather.

“It's bone-chilling, to put it literally,” he said. “I am out there every day busking, and it has been exhausting because of the weather.”

He said compared to last year, these conditions seem extremely irregular, with high winds and a heavy cold.

But he doesn't let it get him down completely.

“I think there is a reason for everything, even the weather,” he said. “Sure, there are less people walking around, and I am out there less, but I don't get angry about it.”

After two years of busking, Thrasher said he has noticed a number of people who brave the weather and take time to enjoy his music.

“People shouldn't let the weather control them, and some people definitely do,” he said. “But despite the cold, people always support my music, which is fantastic.”