Yellowknife (Jan 03/07) - Unseasonably warm weather last January helped the capital make it onto Environment Canada's list of "Top Ten Weather Stories for 2006."

"At Yellowknife, ideal temperatures (-30 Celsius or lower) for building ice roads numbered only 13 for the entire winter compared to a normal of 55 days," reads an excerpt from Environment Canada's "Nation-wide January Heat Wave," number six on its list.

Though few residents complained about the milder temperatures, the same could not be said for the diamond mining industry.

The Tibbitt-Contwoyto ice road services the NWT's mining operations and the new Jericho mine in Nunavut. In 2005, the route was open for 76 days but last year it closed after less than 50 days. The short ice road season cost the industry millions in air-freight to ship needed materials to the sites. While not charting on Environment Canada's top 10, record November snowfalls that hammered Yellowknife with 98.2 cm of snow by month's end shattered the capital's 1942 record of 59 cm as well as the monthly record of 61 cm set in December 1974.

Unprecedented snowfalls in southern British Columbia, a record 19 tornados in Ontario and higher-than-normal summer temperatures across the country were among the other top 10 weather events of 2006.