Yellowknife (Dec 19/03) - The Inuvik region received more than 39 mm of precipitation last month making last month the wettest in 29 years.

According to Environment Canada, snow fell for 20 of the first 25 days in November. The greatest one-day amount was 13 cm on Nov. 22.

While Serge Besner of Environment Canada's Edmonton bureau could only speculate as to the reasons why, he did hint that global warming may provide some answers.

"The increasing Arctic Ocean average temperature is likely partially responsible," he said.

"The ice-free conditions as a result of these above-average temperatures could account for an increase in available moisture for weather systems to tap into."

Inuvik's mean temperature for Nov. 2003 was a balmy -16.1 C, considerably warmer than the -21 C average calculated from 1971 to 2000 recorded temperatures.

This year's record beat the previous one set in 1974, when Inuvik received 38.4 mm of precipitation. In 1984, Inuvik accumulated only 4.4 mm of precipitation for the month of November.