SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The milder November temperatures have kept at least two Yellowknife residents happy. But Environment Canada said the warmer weather is not indicative of what the winter might hold.

Sebastien Alarcon scrapes the sidewalks on 51 Street near 51 Avenue Monday afternoon, while wearing a fleece vest, mittens and a toque - unusually light gear for this time of year. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

Out on the streets facing the elements are Arctic Farmer employees Sebastien Alarcon and Sam Krysko, both of whom are paid to clear sidewalks and driveways all day, said they enjoyed the milder temperatures.

"It's absolutely magnificent," said Krysko on Monday. "I'm outside at least eight hours a day every day and the weather has made all the difference in my job. I can't tell you just how happy I am it's still this warm. It's just great to get out."

Alarcon said it took him a year to get used to the weather after moving here from France.

"This year it's pretty warm. I was here last year and it was pretty rough. It's not so bad to work outside (now). Where I'm from it's warmer because I'm from France," he said.

The average temperature in November reached -11.2 C, about 2.5 degrees above normal, said Yvonne Bilan-Wallace, a meteorologist with Environment Canada in Edmonton.

"That's actually quite a bit for a whole month. It's hard to directly attribute ... this warm November to the fact that there's an El Nino," she said. "It could be that next month, it becomes very very cold. Whether it's attributed to the El Nino, that could be one form of speculation but it really would be speculation at this point."

A cold northerly flow usually sweeps down over Yellowknife at this time of year, said Bilan-Wallace, but this November the flow pattern was more likely coming from the Pacific. But she explained a warmer November does not mean above-average December temperatures. For instance, last year the average November temperature was -9.5 C but dropped to an average -27.8 C in December, lower than the -23.1 C normal.

"That doesn't mean just because you're warm in November and there's a warming trend in the Arctic over the long term that December could be colder than normal," she said.

The warmer November hasn't yet impacted the construction schedule of winter roads to the diamond mines, said Ron Near, regional manager at Tli Cho Landtran Transport Ltd. The company builds about 300 kilometres of winter road yearly, a process it usually starts in late December, he added.

"Naturally it would be better if we had colder weather before then. We don't know until late December how much it's going to affect the building of any of the roads," he said. "We've seen this type of weather in the past. I think it's too early to jump the gun and be overly concerned over how the roads are going to be built this year."

In the long term, Environment Canada forecasts cooler weather in the northwestern portion of the territory while the Great Slave area will experience warmer temperatures, said Bilan-Wallace.

"In the end, you'll probably going to see near-normal temperatures through the area and that is for the next 30 days," she said.

She added for the season, we should experience near-normal temperatures.

"Some El Nino years, you see this huge area of massive warm air in Western Canada. I'm not seeing that at all. What I'm seeing is below normal to near-normal temperatures over Western Canada," she said.