Monday's blizzard was the result of a unique weather system that left us with both record-high daily temperatures and the winter's first major storms.

A massive movement of warm air landed in the territory from the tropics, ushering in last week's unseasonably high temperatures.

That air mass collided with a cold front from the Arctic Monday and brought on a high-energy, low-pressure system and unleashed wild winter storms throughout the Yukon.

"It created a flash freeze, which brought everything from freezing rain to heavy snow and decreased visibility and wreaked havoc on the Yukon,” Doug Lundquist, sector specialist with Environment Canada, said today.

At first, the effects were rather pleasant.

The warm front brought with it four daily temperature records for Whitehorse, seeing the warmest Dec, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ever recorded, said Lundquist.

Burwash recorded a temperature of 14 degrees C, early Monday morning, the highest temperature the community has ever seen in December.

By Monday afternoon, the systems had collided and conditions turned much worse throughout the territory.

Whitehorse saw about 20 cm of snow fall through Monday evening.

Whitehorse, Burwash and Watson Lake all had periods of freezing rain, while Haines Junction experienced wind gusts of 115 km/hour, with one around midnight Sunday that reached nearly 135 km/hr.

The weather affected the territory's transportation systems most of all.

A Vancouver-bound Air Canada Jazz flight was cancelled at Whitehorse airport, at just before 1 p.m. Monday. Another flight, on its way to Whitehorse was rerouted to Ft. St. John, B.C.

"The pilot made the call due to low visibility and extremely high crosswinds,” said Frank Close, the acting airport manager. "But at the end of it all, there were the only two cancelations of seven scheduled departures and seven arrivals yesterday and flight service is back and running this morning,” said Close.

Faced with worsening conditions, the Department of Highways and city maintenance crews also spent the day working double time.

"The South Klondike from Carcross to the Alaska border was closed yesterday afternoon due mostly to black ice and freezing rain,” said Don Hobbis, the territory's director of transportation maintenance.

In Whitehorse, only Two Mile Hill and Mountainview Drive were closed, for about a half-hour at lunchtime as some vehicles couldn't make it up the slippery inclines.

"All the roads were impacted by the storm and took some time to clear,” said Gordon Smith, transportation supervisor with the city.

"We worked on the primary roads first and then the secondaries. We should have everything cleared up today.”

A major priority for the city was clearing the school bus routes.

Standard Bus Lines, the company which manage all school bus services in the community, were advised not to use the back roads in most of the city's subdivisions, said Norma Lee Craig, the company's operations manager.

The company did its regular drop-offs along the North and South Alaska Highway, the South Klondike Highway and the Tahkini Hot Springs Road.

"Parents were wonderful, and came out the highway to pick up their kids,” she said. "It was a great community effort.”

The city are similarly enthusiastic about their efforts during the storm.

"There were no significant accidents yesterday. I think it was a pretty successful day,” said Smith.

"Everyone got home on time and in one piece.”

Today, the territory's roads are all clear, except for the Dempster Highway, which is closed from Eagle Plains to the border of the Northwest Territories.

Still, officials warn travellers to remain vigilant throughout the day.

"Most of the roads in the territory have travel advisories due to weather and driving conditions,” said Hobbis.

"Basically across the territory, most of the roads have been impacted in some way by yesterday's weather.”

For now, it appears that the worst is over.

Monday's system is currently on its way to the Hudson Bay, weakening all the way across the North. But the territory's weather troubles have not passed entirely.

Environment Canada is monitoring another potential low-pressure system heading our way. This time, it is thought to be slightly less intense and probably landing further north.

It could arrive as early as next week.