Weatherman saw warm air coming

Many Nunavummiut may have been caught off guard by this week’s warm temperatures, but not Wayne Davidson, an Environment Canada weather station operator in Resolute Bay, whose observations of the sun forecast the warmer-than-average temperatures before they occurred.

On Feb. 22, Davidson, on his website at www.eh2r.com, said spring 2006 would be warmer than 2005.

“Supremely expanded sun disks were measured, on top of a large portion of them exceeding any similar observations taken at the same time between 2002 and 2005. No sign of significant cooling was perceived,” Davidson predicted after looking at many photos taken before and after the sunrise in Resolute.

“I’ve been looking at the sun and scratching my head,” Davidson said. “The atmosphere is hot: very, very warm. I was looking at some shots, which look like Montreal — like, what’s this? It’s completely wild. This is unreal.”

Davidson said even the monthly mean in Resolute has been 6°C above average.

He said the higher winter temperatures throughout Nunavut are likely to be heating up glaciers and ice in the High Arctic.
“In summer, it takes less heat to melt them. They will disappear more quickly. That’s what happening basically. It’s not extensively warmer in the summer, it’s because it’s warmer in the winter even though it’s well below zero.”