Yellowknife, NWT

Closest to the North Pole

Map of the North Western TerritoriesHere lies the trek all the way up to Yellowknife. I did a route on my ipod and it’s actually 2000 miles to get there from Orem! I didn’t realize Canada went that far north. It’s almost as far as from here to New York.

A Modern City

• This is what downtown Yellowknife looks like. At first I thought it would be a bunch of Eskimos and Igloos but it seems like a decent size town, almost looks like downtown Provo. It’s population last recorded online in 2006 was 18700.

The Great Slave Lake

The Great Slave Lake is the deepest lake in North America and the ninth largest in the World. It goes as deep as 2010 ft. and has an area of 27,200 sq. ft. There are many other towns around the lake as well so Yellowknife isn’t the only one.

EconomyYellowknife ‘s origins began in 1935 when gold was discovered there. In 1967 it became the capital and largest town of the NWT. Recently in 1991 diamonds were discovered which continually helped the economy and provided more jobs even though there was much downsizing in the gold mines and government facilities.

MinesThe first two diamond mines built were first the Ekati in 1998 and the Diavik in 2003. In 2004 the production between the two mines was valued at 2.1 billion. At this time it ranked Canada as third highest in prodution by value and sixth by wieght.

Bundle up it’s cold!

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record high °C (°F)

3.4 6.2 9.3 20.3 26.1 30.3 32.5 30.9 26.1 19 7.8 2.8 32.5

-38.1 -43.2 -48.7 -68.5 -79 -86.5 -90.5 -87.6 -79 -66.2 -46 -37 -90.5

Average high °C (°F)

−22.7 −18.6 −11.2 0.4 10.6 18.2 21.1 18.2 10.3 1 −9.9 −19.7 −0.19

(−8.9) (−1.5) -11.8 -32.7 -51.1 -64.8 -70 -64.8 -50.5 -33.8 -14.2 (−3.5) -31.66

Daily mean °C (°F)−26.8 −23.4 −17.3 −5.3 5.6 13.5 16.8 14.2 7.1 −1.7 −13.8 −23.7 −4.6

(−16.2) (−10.1) -0.9 -22.5 -42.1 -56.3 -62.2 -57.6 -44.8 -28.9 -7.2 (−10.7) -23.7

Average low °C (°F)

−30.9 −28.1 −23.3 −11 0.5 8.7 12.4 10.3 3.8 −4.4 −17.7 −27.7 −9

(−23.6) (−18.6) (−9.9) -12 -32.9 -47.7 -54.3 -50.5 -38.8 -24.1 -0.1 (−17.9) -16

Record low °C (°F)−51.2 −51.2 −43.3 −40.6 −22.8 −4.4 0.6 −0.6 −9.7 −28.9 −44.4 −48.3 −51.2

(−60) (−60) (−46) (−41) (−9) -24.1 -33.1 -30.9 -14.5 (−20) (−48) (−55) (−60)

Precipitation mm (inches)

14.1 12.9 13.4 10.8 19.1 26.9 35 40.9 32.9 35 23.5 16.3 280.7

-0.555 -0.508 -0.528 -0.425 -0.752 -1.059 -1.378 -1.61 -1.295 -1.378 -0.925 -0.642 -11.051

Rainfall mm (inches)

0 0 0.2 2.4 14.5 26.9 35 40.9 29.5 14.7 0.2 0.2 164.5

0 0 -0.008 -0.094 -0.571 -1.059 -1.378 -1.61 -1.161 -0.579 -0.008 -0.008 -6.476

Snowfall cm (inches)

18.8 17.8 17.3 10.2 4.5 0 0 0.1 3.1 23 34.2 23 151.8

-7.4 -7.01 -6.81 -4.02 -1.77 0 0 -0.04 -1.22 -9.06 -13.46 -9.06 -59.76

Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) 11.2 9 8.2 5.4 6.7 7.5 9.5 10.1 10.8 14.2 14.4 12 119

Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) 0.1 0.1 0.3 1.2 5.4 7.4 9.5 10 9.8 5.9 0.52 0.13 50.35

Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) 12.4 10 9.3 4.7 2 0.07 0 0.07 1.7 10.5 15.9 13.6 80.24

Sunshine hours 45.3 104.1 189.2 270.6 338.1 380.1 370.2 283.7 155.5 61.8 42 24.2 2,264.80

Northern Lights

SOURCEShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowknife