N.W.T. and Yukon face hot, dry summers

A stubborn ridge of high pressure will keep the N.W.T. and Yukon hot and dry this summer, according toDavid Phillips,Environment Canada's senior climatologist.

He calls the high pressure system "an unwanted house guest who won't leave."

"It's almost like a weather-free zoneand any kind of weather system that comes off the Gulf of Alaska or the southern part of the Pacific Ocean off B.C. is diverted to the south and those storms are finding themselves in Ontario and Quebec and creating a lot of rain for usbut an absence of precipitation and warm temperaturesfor you guys."

Phillips says the high pressure system will mean a hotter than normal July, August and September for N.W.T. and Yukonafter a dry spring, particularly in N.W.T.

He says this spring the N.W.T. saw only 23millimetresof rain. Normally about 60millimetreswould fall in April, May and June.

"Ilooked back in history," he said. "The last timeit was this dry in April, May and June was 55 years ago and even in two years when it was drier before that, it wasn't that warm. It's a double whammy: warmer than normal and drier than normal.

"Warmer means every bead of moisture that is there is being sucked up by the atmosphere."

That's bad news for N.W.T. after dry conditions last year contributed to a record forest fire season.

"Ithought last year was a bad scene; [It's]even worse this year," saidPhillips.

Yukonwill likely have similar weatherconditions to N.W.T. this summer, he said, with warmer than normal temperatures in July, August and September.

Nunavut is expected to have cooler than normal temperatures until September.