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November warmth breaks records
Coral Harbour records warmest November since 1947
Jeanne Gagnon Northern News Services Published Tuesday, December 7, 2010
A major weather system parked over Quebec that brought warm air north to the eastern Arctic is the likely contributor to the milder weather, he said. While the eastern Arctic got warm southerly winds, cold northern air went south to Alberta. Iqaluit, Pond Inlet, Hall Beach and Coral Harbour broke temperature records, while three other communities came close. "It looks like that central part of the eastern Arctic was where the record-smashing went on," said Phillips. "What we're seeing here in these other places are quite impressive temperature departures but not records." This translated into rain and slush in Iqaluit this past month, and an extended boating season in Pond Inlet, Hall Beach and Coral Harbour. "You have Mays that are colder than November (2010). This is the kind of temperature you would expect in, let's say, late September, not in November," said Phillips, referring to Iqaluit. "Sometimes there are 30 days when the max temperature is below freezing. You had only 10 days. I mean, if there has ever been a shocker, it's this one. It really, truly quite a record, unprecedented month." It was very pleasant weather in Pond Inlet last month, said Colin Saunders, the hamlet's economic development officer. "We had people boating up until the beginning of November. It's the first time we've had weather this nice in almost 30 years, 25 years or so," he said. "I haven't heard anybody complain about how nice it has been." Hall Beach has a lot of snow on the ground and the ice on the ocean comes and goes, said David Crews, the hamlet's director of finance. "It was very, very warm, unusually warm. It's been pretty much fall weather," he said. "There was a comment made in the office the other day, we were wondering if we could go by boat to Iglulik in December." Coral Harbour resident Tommy Paliak said this kind of record-breaking weather was "not very enjoyable" as he is a hunter and there is no ice. "At this time of the month, we would be seal hunting on ice … but there is now way I could get on the ice right now. I could probably go boating," he said. He added the ice is forming up but it's still not safe enough to drive on. "It's spring weather all month of November. We had a couple of days of cold days," said Paliak. "About 20 years ago, in September, we would be driving on the sea ice. It's not like that anymore." The warmer temperatures don't give a clue as to the winter ahead, said Phillips, but he did mention winter will take a little while longer to set in. He added computer models show December to be more of the same, although not record-breaking. "We would not beat records like that but our models are showing for all of Nunavut, temperatures that would be warmer than normal in December," he said. He added we should not get used to it as it will only cool off in February and March, where predictions show colder than normal temperatures.
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