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NNSL Photo/graphic

Children in Kugluktuk enjoy a splash to cool off from the unusually warm weather that's heated up the Kitikmeot region during the past week. - Ron Tologanak/NNSL photo

Kitikmeot residents reach for fans

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Kitikmeot (Aug 07/06) - Twenty degrees Celsius may bring a chill to someone in sub-Saharan Africa, but for some people on Nunavut's northern coast, it is a relative inferno.

Kitikmeot communities endured record-breaking warm temperatures last week. Environment Canada was forecasting a high of 23 C in Cambridge Bay last Thursday.

"I find it too hot," said Cambridge Bay's Lisa Oyakyoak, adding that it's the warmest stretch she can remember.

To keep things bearable she has a fan running in her house, she said.

Over at the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, Arlene Emingak said she and her co-workers also keep the fans on to circulate cool air.

Fortunately it's not so warm in the evening, and by leaving the windows open at home she finds relief, she said.

The extended heat wave was caused by a "blocking pattern," according to Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment Canada in Edmonton.

A high pressure pattern over the region was being held in place by low pressure systems to the east and west, each spinning in opposite directions, he explained. The normal daytime high for early August is around 11 C in the Kitikmeot.

With all the heat, one might expect the community pool to be full...

"Actually, no it's not," Sarah MacDonald, Cambridge Bay's aquatics supervisor, said Wednesday. Hot or not, there's been a mid-season lull in swimming, just like every other year, she noted.

The heat makes cooking dinner over a hot stove an unwelcome prospect. Therefore Kugluktuk's Agnes Atatahak is grateful she has frozen fish and frozen meat on hand.

Eileen Egotak, also of Kugluktuk, is not one of the people who withers under the heat, but she does welcome artificial cooling.

"It's warm out (but) it's not bad. It's all right," she said.

"I work in a place where there's air conditioning so it's nice and cool."