FARGO — Fort McPherson is a small village of less than a thousand people in the Northwest Territories in Canada’s far northwest. The town lies north of the Arctic Circle in a permafrost region with a landscape dominated by sphagnum peat and stunted spruce trees. It is about 100 miles south of the Arctic Ocean. The predominant season is winter, with very short spring and fall months.
Fort McPherson made headlines last week when the temperature reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit. From time to time, temperatures in this location reach between 95 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This region has continuous sunlight during the summer, and occasionally a period of sunny weather is accompanied by a southerly wind blowing down from a range of low mountains to the south, making hot temperatures possible. Frost is likely there later this month, and the first snow usually falls in September.
John Wheeler is chief meteorologist at WDAY, a position he has held since May 1985. Wheeler grew up in the South in Louisiana and Alabama and says his family’s move to the Midwest was important in developing his fascination with weather and climate. Wheeler lived in Wisconsin and Iowa as a teenager. He attended Iowa State University and earned his bachelor’s degree in meteorology in 1984. Wheeler worked at WOI-TV in central Iowa for about a year before moving to Fargo and WDAY.
