SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Now that colder temperatures have arrived in the NWT, many Northerners' thoughts turn to the same question - when will the winter/ice roads be opening?

Right now, predictions are that the seasonal roads will be open near to usual times, which, depending on the community, can be from mid-December to late January.

"It's usually by sometime in January," said Greg Whitlock, superintendent for the Fort Simpson region with the Department of Transportation.

"This season is pretty well a normal one," Whitlock said.

Many NWT communities connect to the outside world by winter/ice roads - Gameti, Whati, Wekweeti, Tulita, Norman Wells, Fort Good Hope, Deline, Trout Lake, Colville Lake, Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik.

The Department of Transportation hires contractors to construct and maintain the roads.

Whitlock explained a winter road is mostly on land, while an ice road travels over lakes and along rivers.

For many communities, the winter/ice roads are a lifeline for supplies.

Whitlock said the seasonal roads are the only way to bring building materials and fuel into some of the communities.

There is also an ice road to the diamond mines northeast of Yellowknife. That road is opened and maintained in a joint venture by the mining companies.

According to a weather expert, things are looking good for the winter/ice roads opening on time.

Yvonne Bilan-Wallace, a meteorologist with Environment Canada in Edmonton, said long-range analysis indicates a normal winter for the NWT.

"For the Northwest Territories, you're looking at normal or below normal temperatures into January," Bilan-Wallace said.

However, she said that doesn't preclude days of warm weather.

Ron Near, regional manager with Tli Cho Landtran Transport Ltd. in Yellowknife, said the winter/ice roads traditionally open about the same time every year.

However, he said one notable exception was in 2006 during a period of warm weather.

"We don't anticipate any problem with startup of the roads this year," he said, although he added it all depends on the temperature.

His company operates on a number of winter/ice roads, including to Tli Cho communities and to the diamond mines.

Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Mervin Gruben has been involved with an ice road for over two decades as a co-owner of Gruben Transport.

The company is the contractor which opens and maintains the ice road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.

The 185-km road is built on the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Ocean.

"I expect it to be on time," Gruben said of this year's opening.

Many times, the freeze up starts relatively late, he said. "But it gets friggin' cold all of a sudden."

Traditionally, the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk ice road opens in mid-December and usually stays open to mid-April.

Gruben said the road is very important for Tuktoyaktuk. "That's our lifeline in the wintertime."

Aside from the winter/ice roads, the NWT also has a number of relatively short but important ice crossings of rivers, such as over the Mackenzie, Peel, Hay and Liard.

Whitlock said, depending on the location, the ice bridges usually open by the end of November or in early December.