Fort Simpson's ice river crossing could see latest-ever opening this year

The mayor of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., says it could be another five to 10 days before the Liard River ice crossing opens to vehicle traffic — meaning the unseasonably warm fall this year could help set a record for the crossing's latest-ever opening. 

Vehicles have not been able to travel into or out of Fort Simpson for about a month and a half now. In order for people to get in and out of the community, they have to take a helicopter over the river, take an airplane to another community, or travel across by snowmobile. 

Sean Whelly, Fort Simpson's mayor, said someone also recently walked the roughly 1.2-kilometre distance across the river lugging a pair of jerry cans — it took them about an hour, he said. 

According to the N.W.T.'s Infrastructure Department, based on the last 20 years of data, the average opening of the Liard River vehicle crossing is Nov. 29. Whelly said the latest it has opened is Dec. 14, which is now just days away. 

"To have the period go that much longer puts a little extra pressure on the residents," he said. 

The village is waiting anxiously for the ice to become thick enough to safely carry a vehicle's weight, but low water levels are also part of the challenge. As reported by Cabin Radio, the ferry that crosses the river in summer and fall closed a few days earlier this year because of them. 

Whelly said he'd like to see "some kind of push" to get the ferry to run longer, which could be achieved by dredging the river bottom. He'd also like the territorial government to do a more fulsome study on building a permanent bridge to span the river. 

'Nature just can't grow ice'

According to Dave Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the average temperature has been about 3.5 degrees warmer than normal since April so far. That's based on a temperature record that goes back 76 years, he said, and is "really shocking." 

"There's no doubt about it, the jury is in. We know that 2023, in the last three-quarters of a century, has never been warmer in the Northwest Territories," he said. 

That poses a problem for freeze up. Phillips said between Oct. 1 and Dec. 9, there have only been two thirds as many ice-freezing days. Yellowknife, for example, has had seven days below – 20 C so far this season. Normally, he said, there'd have been 18 such days by now. 

"The residual heat in the land and the lakes and the river are up," he said. "Nature just can't grow ice when you have such warm, balmy kind of temperatures." 

Phillips said the El Niño weather pattern and climate change are driving the warm temperatures. The El Niño arrived earlier and bigger than normal, and is "intensely warm," he said. It also isn't going to go away anytime soon. 

"Some of the ice is going to appear, but it's not going to be as quickly as we want it, and maybe thinner, taking more grooming than we would normally do in a year."