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Yukon running hot and cold

Last November was one of the coldest on record.This November isn’t.Statistically, it’s actually been a little warmer than usual, says…

Last November was one of the coldest on record.

This November isn’t.

Statistically, it’s actually been a little warmer than usual, says Bill Miller of Environment Canada’s Whitehorse weather office.

“Right now, we’re minus 5.9 Celsius for a mean (average) temperature this month, and our normal for November is minus 9.4 Celsius,” said Miller.

“Last year at this time we were averaging (minus) 16.9 Celsius, for the first 19 days of the month.”

So far this month, the warmest day was on the 2nd when the mercury hit 4.1 Celsius and the coldest has been minus 17.4 Celsius on the 6th.

Last year, the warmest day was minus 7 Celsius.

The coldest, a record smasher, was minus 41 Celsius, on November 27.

That’s the day taxi and towing companies were getting a high volume of calls, the emergency room was almost empty and people’s pipes were freezing.

This year, it seems as though our luck will hold out.

We’re not likely to go into last year’s deep freeze, said Miller.

Following highs of minus 1 Celsius today through Friday, things are expected to hit and stay in the negative double digits.

We’re likely to hit the minus 10-Celsius range on or about the 25th before we head into the minus 20 range by the month’s end, said Miller.

“There’s a definite cooling trend as we go towards the end of the month,” said Miller.

The wind is moderating temperatures this year, said Miller.

Yukoners aren’t seeing the extremes of a year ago because the North wind hasn’t been hitting us.

“Last year, we had the cold North wind, which picked up the moisture off Lake Laberge. We had the low cloud, constant little bits of snow falling and, at the end of last November, it got really cold.”

And, overall, this year will come out more or less average, said Miller.

January was well above normal, it was below normal in February and March, near normal in April and May, above normal in June, near normal in July, August and September, and near normal in October.