Heat records broken across N.W.T. with more hot days ahead

Fort McPherson, N.W.T., has seen two all-time heat records this week, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. 

A heat record was first set on Tuesday and then beat on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching 34 C in the community above the Arctic Circle.

That’s also 18 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, according to David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“I was really just aghast,” Phillips said. “The warmest temperatures in Canada were found north of the Arctic Circle, in Inuvik and Fort McPherson.”

Phillips said it’s not only the heat that’s affecting people, but the number of days in a row under extreme heat.

“When they go two, or three or four, or seven days, it really begins to affect people,” he said. “It’s not healthy.”

Heat warnings across N.W.T., parts of Nunavut, Yukon

Phillips said that record could be broken again in Fort McPherson on Thursday, if it reaches 35 C, which is expected.

“Boy, I have been in this business for a long time, and I am just shaking my head at these temperatures,” Phillips said.

And it’s not just Fort McPherson — there are heat warnings across the territory, and in Yukon and Nunavut.

In Kugluktuk, Nunavut, the seasonal “normal” for August would see daytime highs of around 14 C, but Thursday’s forecast calls for 31 C and 33 C on Friday.

There are heat warnings stretching from the Dehcho region in the N.W.T., as far north as Ulukhaktok, and across to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, and Old Crow, Yukon. Parts of southern Yukon were also under a heat warning on Thursday, including Whitehorse.

Tanya Gruben, who grew up in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., and now lives in Inuvik, said she’s didn’t experience heat like this growing up.

“How can you go outside to hunt or fish in this?” she said.

Gruben, who has air conditioning at home, said people are swimming in the river and in lakes around Inuvik to stay cool.

“I am staying inside, I’m not doing anything. I’m staying where the cold air is,” Gruben said.

Related stories from around the North:

Arctic: Warming climate changing CO2 balance in northern ecosystems: study, Eye on the Arctic

Canada: Makivvik launches climate adaptation strategy for Nunavik, Eye on the Arctic

Finland: Finland sees “exceptionally warm” July as global temperatures hit record highs, Yle News

Greenland: Alarming, above-average ice loss in Greenland due to rising temperatures, Eye on the Arctic

Norway: Polar heat record. July average above 10°C, The Independent Barents Observer

Sweden: Another year of shrinking glaciers predicted in Sweden’s Far North, CBC News

United States: Alaska’s North Slope sees record-breaking heat, among state’s other climate oddities, Alaska Public Media