Three reconnaissance flights - two on 21 

 February and one on 22 February - found 

 over 100 icebergs between 55°N and 59°N. 

 Ice Patrol reconnaissance continued to focus 

 on the area from 48°N to 55°N in its late 

 February (24 lh and 27 th ) flights. They found 

 17 icebergs, all between 54°N and 55°N. 



March 



Unusually warm conditions 

 continued in Newfoundland and Labrador 

 throughout March. While St. John's was 

 only slightly warmer than normal (0.7°C 

 above normal), the remainder of 

 Newfoundland was more than 2°C greater 

 than normal. Labrador was warmer yet, with 

 Cartwright and Nain experiencing daily 

 mean temperatures 5.2°C and 6.8°C greater 

 than normal, respectively. 



Sea-ice reached its 2006 maximum 

 extent during the second week of March 

 (Figure 5), at which time the southern ice 

 edge was approximately at the latitude of 

 Cape Bonavista and the eastern ice was 120 

 nm offshore. In a normal year (Figure 6), 

 the southern ice edge is over 70 nm farther 

 south of this latitude and the eastern edge 

 more than 80 nm farther offshore. 



The southern ice edge remained 

 between Cape Bonavista and Cape Freels 

 until the last week of the March, after which 

 it began a rapid retreat. This retreat was 

 driven in part by a strong storm that passed 

 just southeast of St. John's and brought 

 vigorous onshore winds to northern 

 Newfoundland from 28 to 30 March. The 

 resulting ice destruction and compaction 

 against the north coast left most of the 

 northeast shelf ice free by the last day of 

 March. Significant sea-ice concentrations 

 were limited to the vicinity of White Bay, 

 the inner part of Notre Dame Bay and along 

 the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. At 

 this point the sea-ice retreat was more than 

 four weeks ahead of normal. 



The diminished sea-ice extent in east 

 Newfoundland waters and good weather 



aided a series of five iceberg reconnaissance 

 flights from 23-25 March. Two patrols by IIP 

 and three by PAL searched sea-ice free 

 waters over the region between 48°N to 

 56°30*N. The flights found no icebergs in 

 open water south of 52°N. 



The easternmost and southernmost 

 icebergs seen during the year were spotted 

 well north of 48°N during March, the 

 easternmost on 18 March at 49°52'N, 

 50 o 01'W and the southernmost on 28 March 

 at 49°01*N 52°59'W. In addition, the 

 southernmost (48°41'N and 53°06'W) 

 estimated iceberg position for the season 

 occurred on 30 March. 



April 



Exceptionally mild weather continued 

 in April, particularly in Labrador, which 

 experienced record-setting warm conditions 

 (Environment Canada Atlantic Region, 

 2006). Both Goose Bay and Cartwright tied 

 their previous records, set in 1953, for high 

 monthly mean temperature. In April, the 

 daily air temperature in Cartwright and 

 Goose Bay averaged 4.7°C and 4.3°C above 

 normal, respectively. 



South, southwest, and west winds 

 dominated Newfoundland for the first two 

 weeks of April. Winds from these directions 

 favored the offshore movement of sea-ice 

 that had been compacted into White Bay, 

 Notre Dame Bay, and along the northern 

 peninsula at the end of March. As the sea-ice 

 moved offshore, it quickly deteriorated. 

 Overall, the sea-ice retreat continued at a 

 pace that was over four weeks ahead of 

 normal. 



The disappearance of sea-ice from the 

 Strait of Belle Isle led the Canadian Coast 

 Guard to recommend its use for transatlantic 

 voyages on April 26, 2006 - about two 

 weeks earlier than last year. 



17 



