Texas freeze makes Nunavut a more suitable winter vacation spot
Thinking of heading south for an escape to a warmer location for a winter getaway? Avoid Texas then, as it is colder than parts of Canada's Far North at the moment
If you are considering heading south to escape the frigid cold that has enveloped a large mass of Canada lately, you will want to avoid Texas.
Alternatively, you could even head north if you want warmer weather than the Lone Star State.
While Texas is enduring a deep freeze, which forced a shutdown of a U.S. Gulf Coast refinery in the state on Tuesday due to malfunctions from frozen equipment and freezing rain, Canada's northernmost territory is experiencing above-seasonal warmth, almost record-breaking.
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On Monday, Dallas, Texas, reached a daytime high of -3°C while the overnight low dropped to -12°C. Iqaluit, Nvt., on the other hand, reached a comparatively, balmy high of 3.3°C and dipped down to an overnight low of -2.3°C.
So, even Iqaluit's overnight low was warmer than Dallas's daytime high.
To add insult to injury, the entire state of Texas was below 0°C on Tuesday morning.
Nunavut is used to seeing mild temperatures in recent weeks. December was one for the record books in parts of the territory.
The reason for the temperature switcheroo?
A Rex block developed, bringing in milder air to Nunavut from the North Atlantic while sending cold, arctic temperatures down to Texas.
"We have this massive deep freeze that went through the Prairies, [sending temperatures] plummeting [to] 30 degrees below seasonal," said Laura Power, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.
Slightly north of Iqaluit, Pangnirtung, Nvt., was the national hot spot on Monday, rising to 7.2°C and falling to an overnight low of -3.2°C. The January record for Nunavut is 8.1°C, recorded in 2011 at the same station.
"Pangnirtung is sitting right on the Arctic Circle. We have to look 3,800 kilometres south to Dallas, which is sitting six degrees colder. How does that make any sense?" said Power.
So, it was 25-30°C above normal –– an impressive feat in the winter for any location, let alone in the Far North.
As reported by Reuters, a series of major power outages occurred in the U.S. last weekend as a result of the bitter cold. While most have been restored, there are still in thousands in the dark in Texas, according to Tuesday afternoon data from PowerOutage.us.
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Texas residents were asked by the operator of the state's power grid to conserve electricity Tuesday morning as a result of the high demand during the winter storm.
As well, thousands of flights into, out of and within the U.S. were cancelled or delayed. Among the worst disruptions were at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, according to FlightAware.com.
With files from Matt Grinter and Laura Power, meteorologists with The Weather Network, and Reuters.
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