Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 11/99) - What would the North be without cold weather?

We'd have nothing to complain about, nothing to bundle up against, and, no fierce weather stories to impress the folks down south with.

With January now upon us, a deep freeze has covered the NWT for the past number of weeks. Temperatures have remained a constant -30C or so and with wind chill -- well, you know the rest.

With these frigid facts in mind, it seemed appropriate to ask residents to recall the hottest they've ever been.

Call it a winter antidote if you will.

"I was in Greece a few years in the middle of a heat-wave and it was 45 degrees (celsius) or so," says Arctic Bay's Rob Burke. "You just stuck in the water as much as you could. And then, in the middle of the day, even the water was too hot."

Burke says he prefers the weather in the Baffin.

"Here you can always get inside to get away from the cold," he says. "In Greece, you couldn't escape the heat."

Rankin Inlet's Pierre Kolit is another with a "hot" story.

"My hottest? Toronto a few years ago," he says. "It was fall time and it was too hot to handle."

On an exchange, he and his colleagues also visited mighty Niagara Falls. While touring the famous caverns near the falls, Kolit tore off his rain gear in order to cool down, thanks to water and spray from the falls.

Apparently, it did little to fight the heat.

"I haven't been back since," Kolit says.

Like Burke, he adds he prefers the NWT's weather, though he does admit he'd appreciate the occasional visit to Florida or parts even further south.

In Kakisa, students Dennis Chicot, Jeremy Simba and Rolanda Landry all say the hottest temperatures they've experienced have been right at home.

"I drank lemonade (to fight the heat one day last summer)," Rolanda says. "I like a cold day. I don't like being too hot."

Dennis agrees.

"I had the best summer of my life," he says of last July and August. "We cooled down by jumping in the water."

Jeremy is the lone Kakisa dissenter. He prefers the days when the mercury is boiling.

"I like hot days because I don't like it getting too cold," he says.

Unfortunately, or, fortunately, depending on which side you take, Jeremy has a few months to wait.