by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan20/97) - Trent Hawkins remembers when it was so windy in Cambridge Bay that he could lean almost 90 degrees toward the ground and the wind would keep him standing up.

Now a resident of Hall Beach, Hawkins said that he's never forgotten the high winds during that storm.

"It was kinda fun to lean so close to the ground and stay standing up," he said. "It's certainly not something that everyone experiences."

The whole notion that the wind can blow as fast as a car travelling down the highway at 100 km/h is fascinating, says Hawkins.

High winds combined with low temperatures lead to what's commonly referred to as the wind-chill factor.

Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary defines the wind-chill factor as the rate that human skin cools under given conditions of wind speed and temperature.

The NWT lays claim to the coldest recorded temperature in Canada, including the wind-chill factor.

On Jan. 13, 1975, in Pelly Bay, it was -51 C with a 56 km/h wind blowing, for a temperature of -92 C with the wind chill.

Frostbite would be instantaneous for anyone whose skin was exposed to those conditions, according to Brian Mottus, manager of the Yellowknife weather office.

"Instant death and freezing," he added.

Indeed, it has to be windy in order to get frostbitten.

"You can stand outside at -50 degrees Celsius with no wind and not get frostbite, but wind creates a rapid decrease of heat in exposed skin," he said.

Frostbite becomes a danger when the temperature drops to -8 C and the wind speed is at least 50 km/h. In these conditions, exposed skin can become frostbitten after just four to six minutes.

Skin can become frostbitten after 30 seconds if the temperature is -36 C and the wind speed is 50 km/h or more.

Harsh conditions such as these aren't that common, but areas such as Cambridge Bay and Resolution Island are quite windy.

Resolution Island has the highest average yearly wind speed at 35 km/h. The highest average wind speed recorded in a community is Resolute's 22 km/h.

Mottus pointed out that these locations are places where weather conditions have been recorded. It might be even colder in those places where measurements have never been taken.