Unusually low water in Yukon lakes this spring a sign of climate change, expert says

Virginie Ann · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 05, 2025 6:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

When Peter Heebink looks astatine the other metres of sandy shore in beforehand of his location on Marsh Lake, southbound of Whitehorse, helium can't assistance but laugh.

"I consciousness similar having a formation party," Heebink said, lasting successful beforehand of his beached kayak. 

Following a comparatively adust wintertime and chill outpouring this year, h2o levels successful immoderate lakes and reservoirs crossed the Yukon are astatine grounds lows — including successful the Southern Lakes region where Heebink lives. 

And portion it's inactive aboriginal successful the warmer months, 1 adept says things mightiness not alteration overmuch successful the weeks oregon months ahead.  

"If the adust conditions continue, it would beryllium precise astonishing to maine that we scope the humanities median oregon mean successful those lakes," said Benoit Turcotte, a senior researcher at Yukon University. 

Turcotte, who specializes successful hydrology and clime change, says water levels are unusually debased crossed the Yukon for this clip of the year. He says that's due successful portion to immoderate windy weather. 

"It conscionable seems that we mislaid a batch of the snowpack to conscionable sublimation — to the wind," Turcotte said. 

He says there's inactive capable snowfall up the mountains to capable up bodies of h2o successful astir areas successful the Yukon. However, helium says the territory volition request a bully magnitude of rainfall to scope mean levels by the extremity of the summer. 

"That would mean a rather rainy summertime and radical would not beryllium ace blessed astir that," helium said. 

Heebink says helium would beryllium acrophobic if the h2o level astatine his location stayed this low. But he's besides somewhat relieved, recalling the serious flooding that deed the Southern Lakes region backmost successful 2021. 

"Everyone was beauteous traumatized," Heebink said. 

"You'll find astir radical are blessed to see [low h2o levels] because if it's precocious this clip of year, it's apt to beryllium a flooding year, usually." 

Extreme upwind patterns

Yukon Energy said past week that Marsh Lake was not refilling arsenic fast as usual, breaking a decades-old record.  

"Typically, snowmelt begins refilling Marsh Lake by mid-May, and successful 75 per cent of years, it's underway by May 23rd," the electrical inferior institution wrote connected societal media.

"The latest commencement of refill since 1980 was June 1st. This year, owed to ongoing unseasonably chill weather, we present expect water refill aft June 5th, which volition beryllium the latest connected record."

Yukon Energy says this is simply a "clear reminder" that with unpredictable upwind conditions, clime alteration is affecting operations. 

Turcotte agrees. 

He says the territory volition spot much and much utmost upwind patterns, including much drought and flooding. 

"We tin ever speech astir clime alteration due to the fact that we're successful it," Turcotte said.

"Anyone saying, 'oh, this is not clime change,' well ... everything is clime change, adjacent a mean time is clime alteration ... In the Yukon, we're 1 rainfall tempest distant from a flood, and we're a fewer snowstorms that didn't hap oregon rainfall storms that didn't hap distant from record-dry conditions." 

It's a superior interest for elder Charlie James from the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. He's been surviving successful Carcross, astir 72 kilometres southbound of Whitehorse, for astatine slightest 70 years. He says helium has ne'er seen the h2o level this debased successful the area. 

"We person a bully narration with the h2o ... everybody spends a batch of their clip retired connected the h2o due to the fact that it's healing," James said.

"We adust a batch of our food for winter. Lot of times, astir elders similar to person caller food twelvemonth round. But we can't bash that anymore." 

James says he's acrophobic astir the fish, which need specific h2o conditions and depths for spawning. 

Fish situation and migration, as good arsenic vigor production, and drinking h2o are among Turcotte's apical concerns. He says the adust conditions are also a reminder that wood fires tin start, and dispersed precise quickly. 

"You tin decidedly bask this upwind and each that, but we're never excessively adjacent from having problems up here," helium said.