Nearly all of Saskatchewan is ending 2018 on a cold note.
With cold, teeth-chattering temperatures and blistering wind chills, much of the province woke up Monday morning to an extreme cold weather warning. The mercury read -32 C and the wind chill brought it down to -43 C.
The only portion of the province not under the deep freeze includes the southwest part of Saskatchewan.
With thousands heading out to ring in the New Year tonight, Natalie Hasell, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, says temperatures at midnight will be chilly and frostbite can occur within a few minutes.
“We’ll see conditions return to close to dangerous temperatures as the low tonight is -25 C but winds are going to be stronger at 20 kilometres per hour and wind chills are a concern,” she said.
“With wind chills in the - 40s frost bite can occur in less than 10 minutes, so risky for anyone walking to a friend’s house, or walking to and waiting for the bus.”
However, if Canadians on the Prairies can hang on for another 48 hours, this deep freeze will soon be pushed aside in favour of above-zero temperatures.
“Right now this is a cold snap because for most of Saskatchewan, it will be done by tomorrow,” Hasell said. “Tomorrow morning conditions are going to be very cold still … but for tomorrow afternoon in Saskatoon the high is forecasted to be -10 C so that’s quite the jump.”
The provincial chill continues to trend upwards as the week goes on, with ECCC forecasting 0 C on Wednesday, 2 C on Thursday and 4 C to end the first week of 2019.
“We have really warm temperatures in the forecast. I don’t know that they will be quite as warm as they are forecasting but … it’s in the realm of possibility,” Hasell said.
On Sunday, when the cold ridge moved into Saskatchewan the coldest spot was Key Lake at -46.4 C not counting the wind chill. The hotspot was Maple Creek, at 4.6 C.
