Yukoners mark Heritage Day by shovelling out
People in Whitehorse woke up to an unusually large dump of snow on Friday
It's a good thing Friday was a holiday for many people in Whitehorse — there was snow to shovel. Lots of it.
Residents woke up on Heritage Day to find more snow than usual had fallen overnight.
"I haven't seen this much snow in a while," said Jason Durand, taking a break from shovelling his driveway. "We don't usually get this much in one dump. But it's nice to see."
David Millar, a retired Environment Canada weather specialist in Whitehorse, measured the snow in his driveway shortly after 9 a.m. Seventeen centimetres had fallen — almost as much as Whitehorse typically sees in the entire month of February.
Uhhhh, Whitehorse you should look outside because it just snowed ALOT last night <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/alltheshovelling?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#alltheshovelling</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wheresOliver?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wheresOliver</a> <a href="https://t.co/obJi18nMwc">pic.twitter.com/obJi18nMwc</a>
—@PiratePav"We know we broke the record for today," he said. "Depending on how much snow we get for the remainder of the day, we could set the record for the month of February," Millar said.
The average snowfall for the month of February in Whitehorse is 18 centimetres. Environment Canada says the previous record for snowfall on Feb. 23 was 7.9 centimetres, set in 1960.
However, Whitehorse does not have an official meteorologist measuring snowfall and tracking historical data.
"There is no one in Whitehorse who is accurately measuring the amount of snow that has fallen on the ground currently," said Millar.
On a possible record breaking day for snowfall in Whitehorse, very thankful for this man on my walk to work. <a href="https://t.co/24rtTmRL3V">pic.twitter.com/24rtTmRL3V</a>
—@jsponagleAccording to Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist, storms that bring snow to Whitehorse tend to come more from the west, but this one came from the northwest. He says the mountains west of the city usually block the snow.
"It doesn't often happen that we get more than 20 centimetres in one storm, in one day in Whitehorse," said Lundquist. "That's really uncharted territory."
The forecast was calling for more snow on Saturday in Whitehorse, but not quite as much — two centimetres, according to Environment Canada.
With files from Jackie McKay and Mike Rudyk