Temperatures in some areas of the Northwest Territories could reach nearly 30C in the first week of May, Environment and Climate Change Canada says.
Federal forecasters expect Fort Simpson and Fort Providence to each hit 27C on Wednesday, while Fort Smith is forecast to record a high of 28C on Saturday.
The warm weather has already been contributing to a swift and, so far, relatively unthreatening breakup in the South Slave.
On Sunday, the NWT government said warmer-than-average temperatures had already melted nearly all of the snowpack in the Hay River basin, with snowmelt “well under way” in the Liard River basin. This week’s temperatures are expect to “rapidly melt residual snowpack and soften river ice.”
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In its 5pm Sunday update, the Town of Hay River said “remaining slushy ice from the south is arriving and continues to flow unrestricted out through the west channel,” while the ice in the east channel remains solid.
“Water levels remain low and with little risk of flooding,” the town wrote.
Other than a cool Thursday, every day this week is expected to peak above or near 20C in Hay River.
In Yellowknife, temperatures are set to increase after Tuesday with back-to-back 21C highs from Thursday to Saturday.
The average high in Yellowknife for this time of year is 7C.
In Inuvik, snow on Monday should give way to temperatures of up to around 5C for the rest of the week.
