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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Many Yellowknifers have been waking up each morning this month tentatively peeking out their windows and bracing themselves for frost, or worse: snow.

Jyl Radwell, eight-month-old Tessa MacMillan and Graham MacMillan enjoy lunch outside at Somba K'e Civic Plaza on a mild Wednesday in September. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

Given historical trends, these signs of winter could happen in the city any day now, but the residents of Yellowknife have been spoiled with above-average temperatures in September and, according to Environment Canada, the trend will continue.

"It's a treat to have lunch outside at the end of September," said Graham MacMillan, who enjoyed a meal on the picnic tables of Somba K'e Civic Plaza with his family this past week. MacMillan has lived in Yellowknife for about nine years and said he remembers Septembers with a lot of rain or a bit of snow. Working with Air Tindi as a floatplane pilot for a time, he said he remembers a thin layer of ice on Yellowknife Bay in the early mornings.

"You're actually getting a fall here, for once ... Things are still green and lush."

According to Yvonne Bilan-Wallace, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, Yellowknife received its fair share of rain this month but so far, no snow. Precipitation this month, up to Sept. 24, has measured in at 48.2 mm, all in the form of rain. The average is 29.5 mm.

"So you could say it has been rainy," stated Bilan-Wallace in an e-mail, adding that 46 mm fell in three days from Sept. 11 to 14.

She said normally the city would experience one or two days in September with some minor amounts snow, but so far none has shown up in Environment Canada's records this month.

The highest temperature this month was recorded at 22.8 C on Sept. 6. Bilan-Wallace said she was quite certain no records were broken

"In terms of temperatures, the tomatoes might have survived September. The lowest temperature was 1.6 C on Sept. 15, which could have been a problem for them," she said, adding that considering the colder temperatures from Sept. 10 to 17, daily averages are still running close to 4 C above normal for the past 30 days.

The tomatoes have been surviving and thriving, according to France Benoit, vice-president of the NWT Farmers' Association. At her garden on the Ingraham Trail, the warmer weather has allowed her more time to harvest her produce, she said. Her 75 tomato plants have ripened throughout the summer so she's been able to can tomato sauce over the past six weeks, a welcome change from harvesting all the plants and be stuck canning for 20 hours.

"Instead of rushing to gather everything and to bring things into the house, what I've been able to do is to cover things at night but leave (beets and carrots) in the ground," she said.

As an avid gardener, Benoit keeps notes of the climate daily and looked back to last month, where things were a bit different.

"I had a big frost on Sept. 8 (last year) and so I had to harvest all of my potatoes at the same time, so last year I had a huge frost. This year, it hasn't been the case," she said.

According to Environment Canada, the 30-day outlook is predicting near normal temperatures for the Yellowknife area - even veering on the warmer side. Also, the outlook from October to December continues the trend of forecasting near-normal conditions.

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