For the first time on record, it’s January 12 and there’s no Dettah ice road.
The road across the frozen Yellowknife Bay connects the communities of Dettah and Yellowknife, shaving valuable time off the longer, year-round route that loops around the bay.
In the past, the Dettah ice road normally opened some time around Christmas Eve. More recently that’s shifted later, to an average opening date of January 7, but never a day beyond January 11. Until now.
In December, the problem was warmth. Sustained warmer-than-usual weather meant the ice was too thin for crews to even get across the bay themselves, never mind build a road on it.
At the time, the NWT’s Department of Infrastructure – which is responsible for the road – said the ice was 10 cm or more thinner than it needed to be, even in sections that workers could reach.
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Now, in mid-January, the issue is cold. The minimum temperature in Yellowknife has hovered around or below -40C every day since January 7, reaching -44C on Thursday.
“Due to the extremely cold weather, crews were unable to do ice profiling this week and determine if we have the minimum ice thickness of 33-34 centimetres to safely construct the six-kilometre-long ice road,” the department wrote in a Friday Facebook post.
The department said it still doesn’t know when the road will be able to open.
“It typically takes about five to seven days – depending on conditions – to clear the snow and build the road before it’s ready for the public to travel on,” Friday’s updated added.
“The Government of the Northwest Territories is monitoring the situation closely and we will resume ice profiling as soon as conditions allow for it.”
Once it’s open, the road generally lasts until mid-April.
