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The sunburnt lands up north: Chesterfield Inlet

16 Mar 2022 | Science Notes

We travel this week to the hamlet of Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, on the northwest shore of Hudson Bay, whose Inuit name Igluligaarjuk is, apparently, the Inuktitut word for “place with few houses”. According to Wikipedia the coldest temperature on record for January is -46 C or -66C with the windchill, and for February the windchill record is -71C, which pretty much explains the name of the place. But if you have seen those iconic maps of warming in the Arctic published by the Canadian government you might think the weather is improving. Since the records go back to 1931 we’ll let you be the judge. Here are the January average daytime highs up to 2014.

February:

March:

Even by Arctic standards it is ridiculously cold, although February and March look like they eased off a bit after 1980. But not enough to get above -20C in March so if it’s heat you’re after, you’ll want your sofa somewhere other than Chesterfield Inlet.

3 comments on “The sunburnt lands up north: Chesterfield Inlet”

  1. To the writer--- ever heard of 'line of best fit?' It is a basic concept in science. Look it up and try it on the graphs, and then stop writing snarky comments.

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