While snowfall during the summer may seem unusual to southern Canadians, the North is well equipped for the snow expected to hit this week.
The Weather Network is predicting a wet snowfall for parts of Nunavut on Wednesday night, as rising precipitation and colder-than-normal temperatures are expected.
Iqaluit, Igloolik, Naujaat and Kugaaruk are some of the parts of Northern Canada experiencing low pressure that will likely bring temperatures to drop 2 to 5 degrees below normal overnight. According to , temperatures in August can reach as low as 2 degrees Celsius in some parts of the territory. However, Environment Canada meteorologist Sarah Hoffman said if the snow does fall it鈥檒l likely be gone as quickly as it arrived.
鈥淲e're looking at above zero temperatures in Iqaluit, so it's gonna be really hard for snow to accumulate and persist,鈥� she told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Wednesday.
While it may seem unusual to see an early snowfall this time of the year, especially since Canada has been experiencing warmer weather than usual recently, Hoffman said there鈥檚 always a chance for snow in the colder parts of the country.
鈥淐algary has had snow reported in every month of the year; June, July and August have all had snow reported. So it's not super uncommon in Canada for snow to happen even in the summer,鈥� she said.
While the Farmer鈥檚 Almanac predicted earlier this month that Canada is expected to see record-breaking cold temperatures this winter, David Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada, said these one-off events like earlier snowfall aren鈥檛 indicators of what the upcoming seasons will be like.
鈥淚t gives you no heads up for what鈥檚 in store for us. It could be an early winter, it could be a late winter but that鈥檚 certainly not governed by snow appearing in the high Arctic,鈥� Phillips told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday in a phone interview.
Environment Canada has been reporting warmer temperatures for the majority of the country in September, Phillips said, so there鈥檚 still time to enjoy what鈥檚 left of summer while also preparing for the upcoming colder months.
鈥淚t's sort of a reminder for 鈥榶ou better get your snow tires on,鈥� 鈥榶ou better put away that lawn furniture.鈥� It's nature's way of giving us a little bit of a reminder,鈥� he said.
Correction:
A previous verison of this story erroneously referred to Naujaat as Repulse Bay.
