‘It’s devastating’: summer in Canada’s Arctic region brings severe heatwaves

A digital thermometer logs the slowly rising temperature in Inuvik. Photograph: Leyland Cecco/The Guardian

The arrival of August in the Arctic typically hints that autumn, with its dwindling daylight and cold weather, will soon return.

But on a recent afternoon, Sandy Gordon and her four children plunged into the silty waters of the Canada’s Mackenzie River, escaping a searing heatwave that has descended on the town of Inuvik.