Iqaluit braces for ‘near blizzard’
City suspends services, Canadian North warns of flight delays in response to ‘severe weather’ forecast Monday
The street behind Nakasuk elementary school was quiet Monday afternoon after Iqalummiut were advised to stay home due to “near blizzard” conditions in the forecast. The city suspended services and Candian North warned of flight delays and cancellations. (Photo by Emma Tranter)
The City of Iqaluit closed its facilities and suspended city services including water delivery, garbage pick-up and snow removal Monday afternoon due to what it called “severe weather conditions.”
The city will continue to provide emergency services unless it is unsafe or impossible and delays should be expected.
Government of Nunavut offices and schools in the city are also closed.
Iqaluit’s weather forecast was a “near blizzard” for Monday night with northwest winds of 60 km/h, gusting to 80 km/h, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Temperatures were expected to be high of -19 C with a wind chill of -37 C.
“Risk of frostbite,” the federal government’s weather service warned.
The city’s announcement urged people to go home and stay there until the severe weather conditions end.
“Citizens are advised to stay off the roads due to reduced visibility, high winds and unsafe road conditions,” a public service announcement issued by city staff at 12:30 p.m. and posted on its social media pages said.
Earlier on Monday, Canadian North warned passengers travelling to or from Nunavut’s capital to expect delays and cancelled flights. Kimmirut and Rankin Inlet might be affected by “poor weather conditions” as well, the airline said.
Passengers should check their email for updates to flight statuses and weather conditions, it said.
Is that what Iqaluit calls a blizzard?
Yes, and I love it.
Are blizzards caused by climate change ?
Brace for the “That’s not a Blizzard in Rankin” comments
That’s not a Blizzard anywhere LOL
I suspect if you had these same conditions in Ottawa, Edmonton, Toronto or Regina, it would be classified as a blizzard. I don’t think it makes a difference if these are “Southern” cities other than the further south you go the less snow there is. In Miami, 1cm of snow would be a blizzard :-).
Right, but this is a newspaper based in the north and the intended audience is in the north. So none of this is news up here.
Well, a Nunavut/Nunavik audience, but given the dearth of articles on the other territories we can’t call it a ‘northern’ newspaper by any stretch.
However, is it ‘based’ in the north – however, that may be defined.
You know the other Territories are in the north too, right?
That’s not considered a blizzard in Winnipeg. ❄️❄️❄️❄️
I really like nunatsiaq, but on behalf of (I think) most of Iqaluit, please stop publishing articles whenever the City closes. This is not unusual or noteworthy weather, and while it makes sense for the City to close the roads, it does not warrant a news article unless the weather and/or closure is accompanied by some sort of unusual event,
The point of the story is not just that there is a blizzard. It’s to inform the residents that there may be closure of services. It lets people plan their lives around the closure. The job of the newspaper is to keep people informed, and that includes things like if the city is shutting down services. Think about the rush on the stores in advance of a blizzard. For someone who can only go shopping once a week, knowing the stores are about to be slammed is valuable information.
What does it matter if the paper reports on a blizzard? no one is making you read the article, and it’s not stopping them from reporting on other issues in the Territory.
Drifting snow
I don’t understand why so many people are saying “it’s not a blizzard” or whatever. Just what exactly do you consider a blizzard and why should this be treated any less? The Weather Office defines a blizzard as conditions where, by reason of blowing and/or falling snow, visibility is reduced to 400m or less for at least 6 hours. That sounds like a proper blizzard to me. I realize some people are being facetious or contrarian just for fun, still 80 km/h gusts and low visibility sounds like a blizzard to me. And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I’ve been living in the North quite a long time.
I would guess that a lot of this is coming from people in places like Rankin where making fun of Iqaluit is a pastime and distraction from their jealous misery toward the capital.
Lol no jealously coming from me, people are just stating facts. We wouldn’t close down for drifting snow.
Super. How is a near-blizzard at this time of year in the Arctic “news”?
I’m actually glad that there is so little of note happening right now that this is news.
Are you not exhausted after the last two years of bad news?
Of course! But this was not worthy of an article. No one in the north cares about a near-blizzard. It’s not good news, it’s not bad news, it was a surprise to no one and the City closed the roads, as they should have. The sky is clear today and there is some wind. That is just as newsworthy as the near-blizzard article.
Also, there is not “so little of note happening right now that this is news.” That’s why this article was so lame. It has the feel of being written by someone who doesn’t live here, or someone who had to quickly come up with an idea and just looked out the window.
I agree with a lot of your comments John K, so no disrespect intended. Same goes for Nunatsiaq. I actually really appreciate the work you do. I just don’t agree this time.
In that case, why don’t we shut down Iqaluit for about half the winter
“Hurr durr, that isn’t a blizzard!”
Chill, we’ll still carry the territory for everyone else. No need to get too bent out of shape in Rankin. Go fishing; even with an afternoon off we got you boo.
Yes, when you are not shut down 🙂
You mean like last year when we would watch Kinngait close, then Kimmirut, then Pang, then Clyde. All while Nunavut’s real engine kept chugging along 80kmh winds and zero visibility be damned?
You’re welcome.
80kmh? Wow, must have been a near blizzard
“This is my goalpost. Watch me put it wherever I need it to suit my narrative.”
LOL, Welcome to Iqaluit, where no other community in Nunavut matters. Sounds like Rankin Inlet lives in your head rent-free. I’m not from Rankin haha
Rankin never crosses my mind until I check these comment sections after a blizzard.
Got my feet up this morning, did last night too. But we’ll still go in to make sure the territory is half functional this afternoon. We still gotchu.
Iqaluit can barely look after itself let alone the rest of Nunavut but keep up the good job of looking after the rest of us from your mind 😄
In a very flat countryside 90km/h wind will have the same effect in majority of the area, being so flat, the same 90km/h wind here with our hills that you call mountains some areas will have poor visibility and other areas it won’t be as bad depending on the hills.
The roads will not be great, slippery going downhill, drifts in other areas.
It’s hard to compare from a flat countryside to a hilly one. Hopefully people tie down things that might fly away in the wind.