Lightning strikes shock Iqaluit
Sunday’s rare weather caused by warm weather and moisture, meteorologist says

A rare lightning strike is seen in Iqaluit on Sunday. Lightning strikes are expected to become more common in the Arctic as the region experiences warmer, wetter weather due to climate change. (Photo by Sean Naulaq-Rose)
Forget about striking twice — it is rare for lightning to strike at all in Iqaluit, yet that’s what happened over the weekend.
Lightning struck in Iqaluit during a storm on Sunday. Terri Lang, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s meteorologist for Nunavut, said the department’s weather system did not pick up how many times lightning struck, but that it did occur in the region.
“It was there for a little while,” Lang said.
Such weather is rare in Iqaluit because lightning needs both warm air and moisture, Lang said.
“As we see in the south, it gets hot, it gets humid, clouds bubble up and we get thunderstorms,” Lang said, explaining that clouds need to topple over each other to produce the unstable weather pattern that creates lightning.
But by being located on the cold Arctic Ocean and often surrounded by snow and ice, Iqaluit is not often likely to see that type of weather occur.
With the climate in the Arctic warming, lightning’s frequency may increase in Iqaluit, Gross said.
“As the atmosphere warms and the climate warms, thunder and lightning will become more common in the Arctic,” Gross said.
East of Nunavut, Greenland has also been experiencing irregular weather – Arctic Today reported that the first-ever rainfall was recorded at the summit of Greenland’s ice sheet on Aug. 14.
Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me
Galileo, Galileo
Galileo, Galileo
Galileo, Figaro – magnificoo
Heard tell that his was the first lightning round these parts since 1873.
Lol, thanks Groen; best humor I’ve heard round these parts since 1873.