Photo by Vince Fedoroff
CLEAN-UP TIME – Mark Wykes packs down the snow on this Riverdale street Tuesday afternoon after clearing his driveway. The local snow depth is nudging a record.
Snow depth nears a record
If you were starting to think we’ve had a lot of snow in Whitehorse and southern Yukon – again – your suspicions have been confirmed.
If you were starting to think we’ve had a lot of snow in Whitehorse and southern Yukon – again – your suspicions have been confirmed.
Rolf Campbell, who operates the Whitehorse Weather Records Twitter account, reported Wednesday that we are within seven centimetres of the record snow depth for this date.
“Near-record snow depth,” he tweeted. “Yesterday’s 44 cm of snow cover brought Whitehorse within seven centimetres of the deepest ever recorded on Dec. 22nd.”
According to his figures, compiled from various sources including Environment Canada, Whitehorse has 44 centimetres of snow on the ground.
That’s within one centimetre of last year, when we had 45 centimetres after the massive snowstorm on Nov. 22.
The record is 51 centimetres, set in 1971. In 1978, 49 centimetres were measured.
While so far this season we've avoided a single huge dump of snow, we have had some large snowfalls, including Monday night into Tuesday.
According to Campbell, 2021 is also noteworthy for days where the temperature hasn’t topped the freezing mark.
As of Dec. 8, Whitehorse had seen 119 days this year of sub-zero temperatures, which raises 2021 from sixth to fifth place for the most year-to-date.
The record is 128 days in 1996, which leaves 2021 in the running for the record.
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Comments (19)
Up 15 Down 1
Mark Vigneau on Dec 31, 2021 at 9:24 am
Snow, snow and more snow to come with these mild temperatures. We will set a record for snowfall this winter if the temperatures remain between -10 to -30. With that I really feel sorry for the people who live in the Marsh Lake and Carcross area. The snow melt will cause a much higher flood this summer. You should start to prepare for the up coming season to protect your properties. If the snowpack melts like it did last year the water levels will get much higher. There is a lot more snow to come with these temps. Wish you folks the best of luck.
Up 8 Down 2
Observer on Dec 30, 2021 at 2:11 pm
I just hope that in the short term, those that need to should be planning for when that snow turns to water!
Up 8 Down 7
TheHammer on Dec 28, 2021 at 9:51 pm
Mathew@ "we are all a carbon based life form..." The gospel according to Mathew.
Up 5 Down 1
CJ2 on Dec 28, 2021 at 7:30 pm
I don't really get that. I can see a lot of snow fell, of course, and in most ways, the difference between 2 feet and 3 feet is negligible in terms of the absolute nuisance it poses (sorry, cross-country skiers). But it doesn't seem like it's only one cm less than last year at this time.
Up 12 Down 6
Anie on Dec 28, 2021 at 2:58 pm
I don't understand why we are still debating climate change. It just makes sense to act responsibly towards our planet and who gives a tinkers which side of that debate is right? I'm more concerned about the nonsense steps that sone governments and NGOs are trying to sell us. Let's protect the planet, but let's look at all proposals thoroughly because the climate change labelling and debate is distracting us from good science.
Up 23 Down 4
Groucho d'North on Dec 27, 2021 at 11:49 am
We're just between Ice Ages, in fact I don't recall anybody saying the last one was officially over.
Up 26 Down 29
Matthew on Dec 27, 2021 at 5:02 am
People people, first off, we are ALL a carbon based life form on this carbon based planet.. thinking that C02 (400ppm) has anything to do with climate change is irrational, we have been keeping record of weather for what, 150 yrs now? On a planet that's 4.5B yes you really think the last 150 years we screwed it all up!? NO! Every decade they change their mind (global cooling, global warming ahh eff it, climate change! Were all going to die... LOL see, keeping people in a stare of fear isn't new..
Up 24 Down 27
North_of_60 on Dec 26, 2021 at 2:07 am
Yes Politico, the changes in climate are real, but none of them are caused by humans. The natural warming cycle is over and we're transitioning to a cooling cycle. This may help you understand those natural cycles.
https://youtu.be/lZw4DdocxN0
The next beat of the 179-year solar retrograde cycle is due.
The next beat of the 360-year Little Ice Age cycle is due.
The next beat of the 1440-year ice-age cycle is due.
The next beat of the 11,500-year ice-age cycle is due.
The next beat of the 100,000-year ice-age cycle is due . .
..and we’re worried about global warming?
Up 22 Down 5
North_of_60 on Dec 24, 2021 at 6:44 pm
If you go to this link for Whitehorse weather and scroll to the bottom of the monthly data you can see a graph that shows how the max and min daily average temperatures compare with historic long term averages.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/whitehorse/y1a/december-weather/51876
We've had many days this month when the daytime average high temperature has been below the long term average low for that day.
More of the same is predicted for January. Layer-up; keep warm.
Up 29 Down 29
Politico on Dec 24, 2021 at 4:50 pm
@ Wilf Carter - I certainly can't match the depth of your professional career but trust many of the publications I have read from very knowledgeable people. One of these people is my boss who is a scientist and will tell you directly that climate change is real. Cheers.
Up 17 Down 26
Wilf Carter on Dec 24, 2021 at 1:10 pm
Politico - tell us all about climate change you studied.
Up 20 Down 5
NATE on Dec 24, 2021 at 9:40 am
Clearly it is not warm outside there bud.
Up 30 Down 1
Charlie's Aunt on Dec 23, 2021 at 6:19 pm
@ Tu Shi; It's all relative. Warming for us means it is in -30s C instead of -40s C.
Up 21 Down 26
Politico on Dec 23, 2021 at 5:52 pm
@ Tu Shi If you check you will find one of the characteristics of climate change is an increase in volatility, ie the swings from maximums to minimums get greater. Like precipitation, the same can be said for temperatures.
Up 16 Down 12
YUKONMAN69 on Dec 23, 2021 at 5:29 pm
Tu Shi, yeah it's warmer which means more snow due to more moisture in the air.
Up 17 Down 46
Joseph campbell on Dec 23, 2021 at 4:52 pm
Let's praise God He has everything under control. Message to climate changers. Lay off! Don't try changing things God doesn't want. You don't want to get Him angry.
Up 24 Down 12
Igloo on Dec 23, 2021 at 4:21 pm
People living in the Yukon can’t believe that it’s snowing? Oh boy.
Up 27 Down 11
My Opinion on Dec 23, 2021 at 4:03 pm
This can't be accurate. We had way more snow at Christmas last year. I have pictures. I was having a hard time finding places to put it and now I have only plowed once.
Up 38 Down 61
Tu Shi on Dec 23, 2021 at 3:00 pm
That cannot be true, moving from 6th place to 5th place for most days below the freezing mark. The experts and governments (fed and territorial) say the north is warming faster than the rest of Canada.