Winter, declared absent in 2023, arrives in Yellowknife

Yellowknife will experience successive nights at or near -40C this week, a significant January shift after a warm December.

The last month of 2023 was one of the city’s warmest Decembers on record, contributing to a year that was the hottest in Yellowknife history.

But the opening week of January is a different prospect.

This week’s forecast calls for lows in the vicinity of -38C each night from Wednesday to Saturday. Even in the daytime, the city’s temperature isn’t expected to exceed -35C from Wednesday evening until the end of the week.

That’s not especially colder than the average for this time of year, but will feel all the more brutal given the absence of real cold up to this point. (So far this winter, only one Yellowknife night has dropped below -30C and only one daytime high was below -20C.)

Tłı̨chǫ communities and Łútsël K’é can expect a similar cold snap. In the Sahtu and Beaufort Delta, the cold weather will come earlier in the week and should be slightly less pronounced.

The South Slave and Dehcho will have cold weeks but can still expect highs well above -30C.