Freezing temperatures in the N.W.T. this winter have made it one of the coldest winters recorded this century, a throwback to winters of old, according to a senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“I think a lot of people are saying it reminds them of winters in the past,” David Phillips said in an interview with the CBC’s Jared Monkman on The Trailbreaker.

In Yellowknife, there have been about 68 days where temperatures stayed below -30 C, he said. During a more typical winter, Yellowknifers would experience closer to 38 days below -30 C.

“In the last 25 years, I could only find two other winters that December, January, February were colder than what we saw this winter so far,” Phillips said.

Those two winters were recorded in 2014 and 2022.

Phillips said fall 2025 was considerably milder than a typical fall — the warmest fall on record in 80 years — before the cold started to set in in December.

“[It was] almost from night to day,” Phillips said. “From warmer than normal, no transition, then right into temperatures that were more than six degrees colder than normal.”

December and January were closer to normal winter conditions, he said, but temperatures in February took a nosedive, and they have stayed cold well into March.

“March has been absolutely one of the coldest, even in modern times,” Phillips said.

He added, “This is just sort of a good old-fashioned kind of winter, and something that has caught people off guard in a way.”

Men’s shelter close to capacity amid cold temperatures

Salvation Army Executive Director Tony Brushett told CBC News the organization had increased its capacity about eight months ago, which has helped ensure more unhoused people have a warm place to sleep during the cold nights.

Brushett said they had previously had 31 beds at their men’s shelter, and they now have 39. There are also 24 spaces in supportive housing, which is helping relieve pressure on the shelter, he said.

“Our shelter is close to full every night,” Brushett said.

“The saving grace is this year is the new supportive housing that’s open by the airport. We’ve sent about a dozen of our shelter users over there to live for the winter. If we didn’t have that, our shelter would be above capacity every night.”

However, Brushett said their facility is one of the only Salvation Army shelters in Canada that doesn’t also double as a day shelter. And the cold has made that gap in services clear.

“They’ll often come in, and they’ll stay in the main lobby there for as long as they can,” Brushett said.

“We close our shelter every morning at 7 o’clock. We kick them out onto the street, hoping they’re going to go to the day shelter for the day.”

Warmer than average summer forecast

The cold is expected to continue for the coming weeks, but Phillips said sunlight is increasing in the N.W.T. by about six minutes a day, although the sun is still low in the sky.

“[The sunlight] has to pass through a lot of atmosphere to warm you up now,” Phillips said.

He said the sun is currently at about a 24-degree angle above the horizon, but in a month, it will rise to closer to 36 degrees.

“Even in late March, you’ll begin to feel the fact that it is warming up.”

The warmup is expected to continue steadily through the spring, Phillips said.

“I looked at the summer, and the summer looks warmer than normal.”