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Tuesday night's wind hit Yellowknife hard. This Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott campaign sign on 49 Street shows some of the damage caused by winds that gusted up to 67 km/h. - Jason Emiry/NNSL photo

Strong winds rip through city

Jason Emiry
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 26, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The fall season greeted Yellowknife at the start of this week with strong winds that left their mark on the city.

Campaign signs for federal election candidates blew over. Brendan Bell's campaign team said a few of their small campaign signs were uprooted, while Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott saw several of her campaign posters flutter in the wind.

Over a 24-hour period the Environment Canada website reported wind gusts reached speeds as high as 67 km/h between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The winds remained strong throughout the night and into the morning. Yvonne Bilan-Wallace of Environment Canada said there were very strong winds in Yellowknife but they weren't so abnormal.

"All these things can happen," said Bilan-Wallace. "The fall time is what we call the stormy time. That is when the storms start rolling in. You see it especially in Nunavut and Iqaluit. In those areas there are big storms that roll into Hudson Bay."

Tuesday's wind speeds are far lower than the strongest on record for September in Yellowknife - noted on Environment Canada's website as 105 km/h in 1957.

Wallace said when Nunuvut gets nasty weather Yellowknife gets hit too.

"Every time that low perks over western Nunuvut and the mainland, Yellowknife ends up in the mess behind it," said Wallace. "It is just the way the weather patterns have been running."

At least one airline hasn't had its scheduled flights affected by the wind.

On Wednesday, Jackie Burke, scheduled services manager at Air Tindi said they have not had to cancel any flights to date.

"Right now we're on schedule," said Burke. "I'm just waiting for a complete report back from the pilots. The ceiling is pretty high here. It really depends on what aircraft you're using."

Burke says Air Tindi uses care and caution when scheduling flights.

"Every aircraft is different. Some handle the winds better than others so you have to be very careful. This time of year it is not unusual for flights to be cancelled because it is the North. It's just that time of year that you have to watch and be very careful."