Extreme Arctic Weather and Community Impacts in Nunavut: A Case Study of One Winter’s Storms and Lessons for Local Climate Change Preparedness

• Main Authors: Fox, Shari, Crawford, Alex, McCrystall, Michelle, Stroeve, Julienne, Lukovich, Jennifer, Loeb, Nicole, Natanine, Jerry, Serreze, Mark
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Meteorological Society 2023
• Subjects: Social Science; Arctic; Snowfall; Climate change; Forecasting; Societal impacts; Clyde River; inuit; Nunavut
• Online Access: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10181783/1/Stroeve_wcas-WCAS-D-23-0006.1.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10181783/

Arctic communities are experienced with severe weather, but impacts can still be serious, particularly when the intensity or persistence of hazardous conditions is extreme. Such was the case for the community of Clyde River (Kangiqtugaapik), Nunavut, Canada, which experienced 33 blizzard days during winter 2021/22—likely the most at Clyde River since at least 1978/79. Blizzard conditions resulted from unusually frequent high winds rather than excessive snowfall. The most severe stretch included eight blizzard days over an 11-day period, with top wind gusts of 98 km h−1. Winds caused severe drifting, covering homes and blocking streets. Broken heavy equipment, including snow-clearing machines, compounded the impacts, leaving homes without essential services like water delivery and sewage pump-out for days. Residents reported the storms and resulting impacts as some of the worst in memory. The drifting and volume of snow, combined with the lack of available resources to manage it, obliged the community to declare a state of emergency. Projections of increased Arctic precipitation and extreme weather events points to the need for communities to have proper resources and supports, including preparedness and adaptation and mitigation strategies, so they can be better equipped to handle storm and blizzard impacts such as those experienced at Clyde River in the winter of 2021/22. Additional steps that can be implemented to better support and prepare communities include investing in preparedness planning, expanded and enhanced weather information and services, community land-based programming to transfer Inuit knowledge and skills, assessing the usefulness of current forecasts, and new approaches to community planning.