Forecasters have cancelled a winter storm watch for Yellowknife and nearby communities, but blowing snow and a big temperature swing are still expected.
Meanwhile, governments have warned residents to stay off the Gamètì winter road in case poor conditions make travel difficult or impossible.
On Thursday, Environment and Climate Change Canada forecast a possible winter storm on Friday afternoon and evening in Yellowknife, the Tłı̨chǫ communities, Fort Resolution, Łútsël K’é, Fort Providence and Kakisa.
At 8am on Friday, the federal agency cancelled that winter storm watch, saying the worst conditions were no longer expected.
However, the forecast still calls for winds gusting to 60 km/h in Yellowknife with blowing snow – and a rapid downward temperature shift.
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The city is expected to reach -4C on Friday morning before plummeting to -31C by Saturday morning, a 27-degree swing.
In Hay River, the temperature was recorded at an unusual (though not record-setting) 6C by Friday morning and is forecast to drop to -24C by early Saturday, a 30-degree descent.
Yellowknife’s all-time record for 24-hour temperature swing is 39 degrees, recorded surprisingly recently: December 2 and 3, 2022, when an Arctic storm swept through much of the NWT.
That weekend, Yellowknife reached a low of -41C the evening before the storm, then temperatures swept up to -2C as wind and snow amounting to a near-blizzard struck the city.
