Date: January 27, 2006
Weather: -40°C and Clear
Sunrise: 11:38
Sunset: 16:38

A coworker finished up at work today; he’s moving on to a position in Yellowknife. So some of us went out for drinks at the Finto tonight. It was busy there, as it is most Friday nights. And, as usual, I ran into a few Newfoundlanders in the pub. The energy board is in town having hearings on the new gas pipeline that will be coming through Inuvik in the next few years. That only added to the crowd at the Finto.

Earlier in the day I experience a temperature inversion. That’s when there’s a layering of high and low pressure systems in a particular way (opposite to what normally occurs) that causes everything to be very still…and very cold. Smoke and water vapour from cars, and furnaces and such flatten out and stay in the air – almost like they are suspended. One of the really neat side effects of a temperature inversion is its effect on sound. Things in the air, like planes or thunder or whatever, sound much, much louder than normal. For example, a helicopter flew overhead and we could hear the beating of the rotors for kilometers away. It seemed like the chopper was overhead for minutes. As the thing approached, it just kept getting louder and louder, slapping at the air with its spinning blades. It was unbelievable how loud this thing was! You could barely hear someone speak, even though they were right next to you. It was a really interesting experience.

The night was capped off with our first viewing of the northern lights. We saw them from our bedroom window. Sheets of a pale shade of green slowly appeared and faded from different parts of the sky, alternating in intensity and position. It was probably a relatively muted display, but we were impressed none the less.

Cheers!