An Exceptional Storm and Its Effects in the Canadian High Arctic

Heavy precipitation fell over the eastern Queen Elizabeth Islands on July 21-23, 1973; 54.6 mm fell at Vendom Fiord, south central Ellesmere Island. The rainfall at Vendom Fiord was associated with a depression which had moved over the rest of the archipelago without producing unusual precipitation. None of the official weather stations in the region reported exceptional amounts, yet there is evidence that the record from Vendom Fiord was representative of a much larger area. The storm was responsible for inundation of flood plains, reworking of coarse alluvium, and rapid mass movements on slopes in the locality of Vendom Fiord, and it is possible that it was the catalyst for a glacier outburst flood (jokulhlaup) which issued from an ice-dammed lake 10 days later. Depressions which impinge upon the mountains of the eastern High Arctic merit further climatological attention.