Temps to stay above average

Yvonne Bilan-Wallace, from Environment Canada’s Arctic Weather Bureau in Edmonton says temperatures everywhere in Nunavut are “trying to ignore that winter is coming” – and it should stay that way.

Over the last 30 days, the western Kitikmeot area has seen temperatures one to two degrees above normal; the High Arctic islands are more than five degrees above normal; and the Baffin island communities are three to four degrees above normal.

Long-range forecasts call for generally above normal temperatures in November with generally above-normal conditions expected into January.

Meanwhile, sea ice is melting away from the waters around Baffin Island at a rate which is nearly four times as fast as the rest of the Arctic, according to new research from the University of Toronto.

In nearly all areas, sea ice had retreated further south from where it should have been in a typical September.