Bianca McKeown · CBC News
In Iqaluit, Jazmine Akeeagok was dressing a little differently this week.
“I’m used to wearing sweatpants and like, a sweater or a T-shirt during the summer, but I’m in shorts right now,” she said on Tuesday, laughing.
Heat waves are rare in Nunavut, even in mid-summer, but Environment Canada issued a heat warning for Sunday and Monday in Iqaluit. The temperatures hitting 25.1 C on Sunday, which was a new daily temperature record for July 5. On Monday, the high was 24.4 C in Iqaluit.
On Sunday, daily temperature records were also set in seven other Nunavut communities including Arctic Bay, Igloolik and Kinngait.
Akeeagok called the heat “very abnormal.”
“It’s really different,” she said. “We’re definitely experiencing climate change first hand, and it’s pretty crazy and sad to see.”
Chloe Katsademas, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says the heat wave is connected to the warm weather down south, and that Sunday was a period of “abnormal heat” across Nunavut.
“We haven’t been above 22 C on July 5th since 1948,” she said. “Now, our July 5th this month, we got 25 degrees — that breaks a record for that date.”
Though Sunday broke a daily temperature record, it wasn’t the hottest day on record in Iqaluit – that was July 21, 2008, with a sizzling high of 26.8 C.
Sunday was the sixth-warmest day on record in Iqaluit, with records in the area having been kept since 1946.
By Tuesday the heat had eased, with Iqaluit seeing a daytime high that day of 18.4 C.
Finding ways to stay cool
The heat saw Iqalummiut finding ways to cool off. Gordon Alainga said he was enjoying and taking advantage of the warmer weather.
“I went swimming, actually,” he said. “I went to Road to Nowhere with my buddies, just spent the day out there. It’s pretty hot outside.”
Alainga was also wondering whether he should buy a fan for his home.
“It’s a little too hot in there,” he said.
Ryan Akeeagok, Jazmine’s brother, said he was also spending time outdoors, in the water, and having barbecues.
“I’ve been swimming at Road to Nowhere,” Ryan said. “It’s like warm, but not warm. It’s like a cold plunge. It feels so good.”
Jazmine said she was also finding ways to stay cool.
“Unfortunately, our boat is broken right now. So we’re all watching the boats go by,” she said.
“The heat is definitely crazy. We’re all in our shorts. We’re pulling out our clothing for our summer vacations. It’s like we haven’t had to do this in forever.”
Lesedi Mokoena says her home doesn’t have air conditioning, so she tried to keep the windows open and used a fan.
“At home, it’s really, really hot. Everyone’s wearing shorts and everything,” she said. “The heat just hits my face really hard.”
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