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How the Arctic darkness is causing Saskatoon's deep freeze — and when it will end

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Saskatoon, along with most of western Canada, has been in the clutches of a long-lasting cold snap. Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Terri Lang explains what's causing it - and when temperatures will warm up again. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What's been causing the extreme cold?

Well, during the darkness of the Arctic during the winter, the cold air really deepens. There's nothing really to warm it up. So the cold air just continues to deepen and deepen and deepen and deepen. And as it's swirling around the poles, when the jet stream takes a kind of a wiggle or wobble, it'll send an offshoot of that really cold air coming down. And that's what's happened.

This air is actually coming straight from Siberia. So when we talk about the Siberian Express, that's what we're talking about because this cold air is coming right from the Arctic. And it's very typical, just because this is the time of year, there's no light whatsoever in the Arctic, so nothing to warm up that air at all. And we saw temperatures reaching - 50 C through Alaska and the Northwest Territories yesterday. So we know this is very deep Arctic air.

Did we break any records?

I don't think Saskatoon did during that whole time. There were a few records broken here and there. But Saskatchewan's records for this time of year are in the mid minus 40s. So we have to get really, really cold to break those records.

It looks like some relief might be on the way. Can you explain that?

The jet stream is finally taking a little bit of a turn and we're happy to see that. We will see the jet stream start to come into a more of a westerly flow. It's going to come up past the U.S. border and become more westerly. And what that happens to do is it brings us usually milder air, and brings us temperatures that are more in line with what we can expect for this time of year.

Of course, we know we can get anywhere from plus single digits to minus 40. So there's a big range in there. But certainly, we're going to see temperatures next week in the mid minus single digits, which we haven't seen in a very long time.

While we're still in the last couple of days of this freeze, what can people do to stay safe?

Well, don't go outside unless you need to. When we're in extremely cold temperatures like this with extreme wind chills, frostbite can occur very, very quickly, less than 10 minutes. So that means any exposed skin can freeze very quickly. So if you do have to go outside, make sure you're dressed for it. Make sure you dress in layers because it's the air between the different layers that actually keeps you warm.

Make sure all your extremities are covered as much as you can to avoid that frostbite. And really limit the time that you have outdoors just because frostbite, hypothermia can set in very quickly, especially if you find yourself getting wet or anything like that, it can really set in very quickly.

How long will we be able to enjoy the warmer weather?

The pattern looks like it'll stick around well into next week. So it's, I think, going to feel quite tropical. That doesn't mean it's here to stay. We've got a lot of winter ahead of us. And the time when the average temperatures bottom out for the year is towards the end of January. Even based on last year we had some very cold temperatures in February so we know we've got lots of winter still ahead of us, but I suggest that once we get rid of these cold temperatures and the nice temperature set in, for people to get out there and enjoy it.

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