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The sunburnt lands up north: Fort Smith

16 Feb 2022 | Science Notes

With winter in the south showing no signs of letting up, we have turned our gaze to the far north in search of the blazing winter warming shown in Government of Canada climate reports. We’re looking specifically at places with records of average daily highs by month going back at least to the 1930s, and one such spot is Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. January does show a bit of warming but if you look closely it all happened in one step around 1980 and there’s been nothing since then.

February also looks like it inched up a degree or so around the late 1970s, although not enough to get back to the highs reached in the 1920s and 30s.

As for March we’ll grant that average daily highs have snuck above 0 three times since the 1980s, which may be a harbinger of a trend, although not much of one.

So if it’s a tossup between Fort Smith and Fort Lauderdale for your winter vacation, and it’s heat you want, go south, young man.

2 comments on “The sunburnt lands up north: Fort Smith”

  1. January looks a little warmer since 1980. Feb and March do not show this. The last decade in March looks cooler by your metric

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