Already surrounded by levels of snow not seen in years, Inuvik is forecast to receive a fresh dump of up to 25 cm in the coming days.
More than 60 cm of snow was recorded on the ground in Inuvik earlier this week, a level not reached at this time of year since 2005 according to published records.
The precipitation over Inuvik this month, 39.7 mm, is the most for any December in the town’s record books.
Now, Environment and Climate Change Canada is warning that more snow is coming to the Mackenzie Delta.
“Heavy snow with total amounts of 15 to 25 cm is expected,” ECCC warned in a Friday morning advisory.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“Snow will begin this afternoon for communities near Fort McPherson and by this evening for the Aklavik and Inuvik regions. Heavy snow will continue tonight and into Saturday,” the advisory continued.
The snow is expected to end by Sunday evening.
By Friday afternoon, ECCC had added Tuktoyaktuk to the list of places under a snowfall warning.
“Snow will begin Saturday morning and end Sunday evening. Total amounts of 10 to 20 cm are expected for the community of Tuktoyaktuk, while areas south of Tuktoyaktuk may see up to 30 cm,” the updated advisory read.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions,” Friday’s advisories stated.
Travel has already been disrupted for days along the region’s highways.
Sections of the Dempster Highway were closed on Christmas Eve and the highway only fully reopened to traffic on Thursday evening.
The Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway has been closed since Wednesday and remained closed on Friday morning according to the NWT government’s online highway conditions map.
Inuvik’s all-time record for snow on the ground is 116 cm in 2001.
