If you feel like it’s been warmer lately, it’s not just your imagination.
Yellowknife experienced its third warmest October on record, according to Sarah Hoffman, a meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
“There was warmer weather twice before. The first warmest was in 1943. The second warmest was 1963,” said Hoffman.
This October brought an average of 2.6 C. In 1963 it was 2.8 C while in 1943 it was 2.9 C.
ECCC has around 80 years of data going back to the 1940s for the Yellowknife region, and the temperatures are on track for what was predicted.
A normal daytime high for this time of year would be -7 C with an overnight low of -14 C.
For Nov. 3 however, the daytime high was 4.5 C, according to ECCC, and the mercury climbed above freezing again on Nov. 4.
“So certainly six to seven degrees above normal still,” said Hoffman
The mild weather, according to the short-range forecast from ECCC, can be attributed to “some stagnant warmer-than-normal air masses that stayed in the area.”
A“significant” reduction of sea ice concentration is another repercussion.
“We’re experiencing well below-normal ice concentration this year and that’s no coincidence given how high the temperatures have been, especially in October,” said Hoffman.
As for the future, Hoffman foresees above-average temperatures into the weekend but thing the thermometer is expected to plummet.
“We’re looking at the -10 (C) range to start off next week,” she said.
The NWT isn’t the only location to experience this phenomenon as Nunavut has also been experiencing well above normal temperatures.
“We saw a much higher anomaly in Nunavut,” said Hoffman. “Actually, in some areas, like Resolute, (it’s) almost 10 degrees above normal for the month, which is significant.
“Many places recorded their hottest temperature, their hottest Octobers on record,” she said. “A community like Cambridge Bay has 86 years of data, so that’s not insignificant.”