Record Heat Forces Closure of Canada Arctic Park

OTTAWA - A major national park in Canada's Arctic has been largely closed after record high temperatures caused flooding that washed away hiking trails and forced the evacuation of tourists, an official said on Friday.

Every year around 500 people visit Auyuittuq National Park, which covers over 19,000 square km (7,340 square miles) on Baffin Island and is dominated by the giant Penny ice cap. The park is popular with hikers and skiers.

The combination of floods, melting permafrost and erosion means that the southern part of the park will remain shut until geologists can examine the damage, said Pauline Scott, a spokeswoman for Parks Canada.

"We've lost huge proportions of what was formerly the trail in the park. It's disappeared -- gone," Scott said by phone from Iqaluit, capital of the Arctic territory of Nunavut.

The problems started last month with two weeks of record temperatures on Baffin Island that reached as high as 27 Celsius (81 Fahrenheit), well above the July average of 12 C (54 F).

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49639/story.htm

Ya, all those people that say we are hyperventalating for nothing, that it's just an imagination, that we can't predict the weataher that far in advance, that the earth has Always has climate shifts...

all those people can kiss my nice big mama ass about now

and all those people that say we need to drill, burn "clean coal" or natural gas...

ya, THEM too!

fuckers.

I think it is time to just cash in my chips and get a horse & carriage

edit to add.... so where is the commune...? can i come live there now? do they have cookies?

I think you're gonna need 'em to stay sane. :(