Warm, wet and weird: mild weather in Eastern Arctic had residents perplexed

Digging for clams in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, is usually a summer and fall activity. In January? Unheard of.

But that's what happened last week during a freak warm snap across much of the eastern Arctic that sent temperatures soaring above freezing in some places. The mercury hit 8 C in Pangnirtung on Jan. 4 and the hamlet also saw some rain.

With strong winds pushing the sea ice away and strong tides helping to expose the sand, residents of the Baffin Island hamlet hit the beach in search of clams.

"We picked clams in January for the first time," said Jessica Akpalialuk. "I got to do what I love doing."

But the unseasonable warmth, combined with the high winds that are fairly common in Pangnirtung, are a pain for hunters, said resident Madeleine Qumautuq. Add to that the rain that fell, followed by the return of freezing temperatures, and just walking around town is a challenge, she said.

"The snow melted and what remained was ice," she said. "We're still going through that right now. It's hard to walk on. If you have transportation then you are able to get around, and walking of course, but at a slower pace now because of the icy conditions."

In the Nunavik hamlet of Ivujivik, the mild weather derailed some community games, including snowmobile races and ice fishing, because the ice is too thin, said resident Thomassie Mangiok. It's the second straight year that's happened, he said.

"It feels like spring," he said. "Thick snow, a lot of snow and occasional cold to freeze the snow a bit. But strangely I feel that I am in the south."

The warm temperatures in the eastern Arctic are drawing the attention of meteorologists too.

"We're talking about temperatures that are more than three standard deviations away from what is considered normal for this time of year," said Natalie Hasell, with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

"And that translated to temperatures that were 20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal. We had rain in Baffin Island on the 3rd and 4th of January. We normally don't talk about rain about this time of year."