Year: 2022

Each time a new climate record is broken, climate researchers are left wondering “was this because of our uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gasses?”  We rarely know for sure.  While a single extreme may be consistent with what was anticipated, specific “attribution” studies are required to determine the contribution of anthropogenic forcing to a given extreme…Continue Reading Significant hydrological events of 2022 in Yukon – the age of extremes

Water levels in the Marsh-Tagish-Bennett Lakes system peaked on August 27 at a level that is only 0.6 m lower than in 2021 and 0.4 m lower than during the flood of 2007. More specifically, 2022 is only a few millimeters below the 3rd highest level on record since 1970. Also of interest is that Áa Tlein (Atlin Lake;…Continue Reading What Yukon’s Southern Lakes are telling us

The timing and intensity of river ice breakup depends on multiple factors driven by hydrological and meteorological conditions. Breakup may start gradually but can end with a significant ice jam flood. In turn, there are years where most ingredients are gathered for high water levels at breakup, yet Nature decides otherwise, and water levels remain low….Continue Reading Pac-Man and Bluefish breakup events in 2022

For years now, we have been witnessing the occurrence of weather extremes. In 2021, unprecedented hot weather, droughts, and floods affected different regions of Canada, including Yukon. A couple of years before, in the spring of 2019, a very thin snowpack was reported in central and southern Yukon. This spring, several areas of Yukon have…Continue Reading 2022 Yukon flood perspective aligns with climate projections

Snow Water Equivalent (SWE, amount of water contained in the snowpack) at Whitehorse airport is nearing it’s peak for Winter 2022.  While the snowpack can vary significantly from year to year, the graph above shows that there is an overall rising trend in SWE since 1966. The year-to-year variability also tends to increase, with a…Continue Reading Climate change, flood resilience, and the 2022 snowmelt season in Yukon

Outdoor lovers have noticed that the ice cover in Chasàn Chùa (McIntyre Creek) close to Yukon University Ayamdigut Campus can change very quickly during the first half of winter and can also present significantly different aspects from one observation point to the next during any given day. This ice cover often seems chaotic compared to…Continue Reading Intriguing ice cover on Chasàn Chùa (McIntyre Creek)