Note 18 — Chapter XV · THE MACKENZIE RIVER REGION.
Reading edition
Franklin (“Narrative of a Journey, etc.”) relates that the thermometer during the month of October, 1820, at Fort Enterprise (headwaters of the Coppermine) never rose above 37° but never fell below 5°. The mean temperature for the month was 23°. The highest temperature at the same place in the following April was 40° above zero, the lowest 32° below. The mean was 4° above zero. May 9, the snow had disappeared from the ground. The first robin appeared May 14. The average temperature for May was nearly 32° above zero; the greatest heat 68° and the lowest 8°. At the end of the month there was constant daylight. When the Franklin expedition was at Fort Franklin (west side of Great Bear lake) in 1826, the first flower was gathered on May 27. (“Narrative of a Second Expedition, etc.”)