Igloolik, Nunavut, marine waters are showing only a trace of ice this week as the brief open water season arrives, according to an Environment Canada ice forecast issued at 11:00 AM EDT July 20, 2026.
Open waters off the community hold just 1/10 first-year ice, with slightly more at 6/10 in the southern sections of the area. Fog patches are expected this evening and light northwest winds of 10 to 15 knots will develop late, building seas outside the ice edge to 1 to 2 metres.
The thin ice signals an early start to open water, a pattern consistent with larger changes across Foxe Basin. Since 1968, September sea ice area in the basin has dropped by 17.8 percent per decade, the fastest decline in the Canadian Arctic, federal data shows. The thicker multi-year ice that once persisted through summers has also retreated, with a 17.6 percent per decade loss over the same period.
According to a study published this month and reported in The Guardian, Arctic sea ice overall saw a record 5.8 percent year-to-year winter decline between 2024 and 2025, and the 2026 winter maximum is the lowest for the second straight year.
For Igloolik, a hamlet of about 2,279 people, shifting ice affects daily life. A 2006 survey found 74 percent of residents hunted, with sea ice serving as a vital platform for travel and harvesting marine mammals.
