Whitehorse

Winter has taken a brief holiday in southern Yukon this week, with a sudden spell of spring-like weather making for wet, slushy conditions — and setting the stage for some slippery roads when winter conditions return later this week.

Takhini River resident Georgina Widney said she is packed and ready to go if the evacuation alert for her area in the Ibex Valley changes to an evacuation order.

A French tourist in Whitehorse somehow defied the odds last week when she fell through thin ice into a lake, several times, and still managed to pull herself out of the water to safety, unharmed.

Southern Yukon is basking in some unusually mild January weather this week, with temperatures climbing well above the freezing point on Wednesday and expected to stay that way into Thursday.

The Yukon is the latest place to be hit with avian flu cases as an outbreak continues to spread across the country. Officials from the department of environment said in a press release Friday that two waterfowl carcasses in southern Yukon tested positive for the H5N1 virus strand. The Yukon government is asking residents to report sightings of sick or dead birds to their TIPP line at 1-800-661-0525.

Robert Service Way and the Millennium Trail and the Airport Trail near downtown Whitehorse are temporarily closed due to an apparent landslide on the escarpment around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

The lone adult bird was spotted among the migrating trumpeter swans at Marsh Lake.

The dam altered the subsistence gathering patterns of the Tagish Kwan, the Daḵká Kwa’an and the Kwanlin Dün people. Residences, cabins and fish camps along the Whitehorse rapids were dismantled, gatherings at M’Clintock stopped, and many people dispersed to Fish Lake and Whitehorse.

Sebastian Jones, Wildlife Analyst

Of the 92 pools of mosquitoes tested, 30 had at least one mosquito that tested positive for California serogroup viruses. There has been one confirmed diagnosis of meningoencephalitis — a severe neurological condition — caused by the snowshoe hare virus. There have been no positive cases yet of West Nile Virus.

After a black bear was shot dead in her front yard, a Whitehorse resident is concerned that people are inadvertently luring bears into the neighbourhood by feeding wildlife.

"River is running bank full with all gravel bars and low islands underwater."

The heat wave sweeping through the N.W.T. and Yukon will have a major impact on permafrost thaw in both territories, experts warn. 

Upgrades are needed on the tarmac

Environment Canada says this winter's snowfall in Whitehorse is in near record-breaking territory. It's the most snow the city has seen since 1972.

William Twardek, a Carleton University PhD student who's been studying Yukon River chinook salmon, says his four-year research project has found that some fish simply can't make it past the fish ladder to reach their spawning grounds.

Twice in the last couple of weeks, dog have been attacked by lynx. Biologist Tom Jung says climate change may be a factor, affecting the amount of food available. Snowshoe hares in Yukon are now in about the third year of decline.

City of Whitehorse crews have been dealing with record amounts of snow on residential streets and roads. Thousands of truckloads of snow will be hauled away keeping a small army of city workers and contractors busy with plenty of overtime.

Permafrost in Canada's northwest is thawing much faster than researchers predicted 20 years ago, according to the president of the International Permafrost Association.

Whitehorse residents woke this morning to their vehicles buried in snow, with even driveways being impassable, particularly for vehicles without four-wheel drive.