Day 27: April 29, 2026
In today’s dispatch, Will is "stormed in", waiting out an intense easterly gale while observing the undeniable shift from winter to an unsettled Arctic spring.
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Yeah, Will here, it's April 29th, day 27. A big storm came in last night, and yesterday was like almost an ideal day. I had previously four days of south wind, very strong south wind that brought in the warmer weather (warmer meaning around 20 or so). And so we had that. And then yesterday the wind shifted to the northwest. It wasn't too strong. I was wondering what that would bring. It was usually a cold wind. But then it all cleared up yesterday, 9 o'clock. I was outside, and it was actually warm looking into the sun. It was the warmest moment (or the only warm moment) I had so far. It was yesterday evening when I kind of just dabbled outside on the sleds and the equipment. And then I went in the tent, and it must have been around 1 o'clock.
So east wind started coming up and picked up speed and kept more speed and then picked up more speed. And then a lot of snow started coming. It's kind of a real fine, granule type of a snow. And so it was then blowing all day consistently, hitting the tent. Actually, the tent at ... east is the side on the tent. And so it's hitting it right on. East is, well, you do get some Easterlies here. But, you know, I could say I was surprised, but I'm never that surprised because I don't really expect much, you know, any kind of "I'm okay, it's going to be a good day today." That doesn't work out up here. Life like that is that way, too.
But so I slept in, which was a real leisurely ... actually, I sometimes dream of the ... being stormed in for a day like I am right now, kind of comfortable. If I'm in the city we never get any mandatory time off. But here it was relaxed, pretty pleasant in the tent without any heat at all. It's still kind of chilly. And then, you know, 11 o'clock in the morning, it's a little bit of intensity—despite the storm—from the sun. So it definitely isn't winter here anymore. I don't see my breath when I'm talking on the phone like the last month. And so it doesn't show any signs of letting up yet. It's really been intense. And the tops of the ridges are all blown off. They were covered with snow from the southerly winds I've had, and the snow from that covered up the ridges. But the ridges are all bare with that. And being bare like that, if we do get warm weather now, warm sun, that's going to really hasten the thaw. Once you get some rocks, it starts on the ridges like that. And they pick up like small little ovens. And then they immediately start melting around them.
But all this moody weather, the changes from one to another, definitely all on the upside of being warmer—is really a definite sign of spring coming in. In 1995 (or 94), we did a training expedition from Yellowknife up to the coast and along the coast. It was probably about a 1,500-mile trip that year by dog team. And then we flew the dogs out and flew the canoes in. It was a training, actually, for the crossing of the Arctic Ocean the following year. But I remember that time we were stuck for nine days waiting for the plane to come in. Kind of similar weather as it is now, foggy. That was on the coast, so it wasn't the more inland here. But it was that in-between stuff. And it just wasn't that nasty of weather. It was kind of warm, warmish, little thaw. Not too much, but it was always this warmer air over ice causing a fog. And there were six of us on that expedition in three different tents. So killing time for nine days is a pretty serious thing. But then the plane came in—the Twin Otter—we got rid of the dogs. And the canoe sets came in. And then I think we finished that trip on the McKinsey Delta and Pakiutuk. It was the very end of May or so. Because of the climate change it's a little bit warmer now.
So anyways, it's not a, you know, you don't want to be stuck outside in this. But it's a ... I don't want to say a routine, but it's a pretty strong winter this year. And no danger. The tent's holding up real well. And it's sitting here killing time. And if it does lift any way where I can see, I'm going to start making that shortcut across the land here to the Horton, main body of the Horton. And so this is Will here on April 29th, on day 27. I imagine, down in Minnesota and elsewhere, the spring weather is probably really coming in. I don't imagine you're having any storms, although knowing Minnesota, you can get a storm later in April, but not often, me being up in Ely. So Will, roger and out.
Weather keeps will pinned in location and awaiting clear weather to embark on his shortcut across the hairpin in the Horton. Visit Will’s interactive map for complete control of magnification and orientation.
Will describes an evening clearing and seeing the sun “was the warmest moment (or the only warm moment) I had so far.“ This photo is from the 2004 Arctic Transect Expedition.