Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold warning for the entire eastern half of Saskatchewan, extending from the province’s northern border all the way south to the U.S. border.
The area covered includes Regina, Fort Qu’Appelle, Yorkton, Humboldt, Prince Albert, La Ronge and other communities.
The weather agency issued the warnings early Monday morning; it’s forecasting very cold wind chills into Monday evening and Tuesday.
“An Arctic High pressure system moving into the province today will bring frigid temperatures to eastern Saskatchewan tonight. Extreme wind chill values of -40 C to -45 are expected to begin late this evening and persist through Wednesday,” the cold weather statement said.
Regina’s wind chill by 6 p.m. is forecasted to be -31 C; the temperature at that time will be -18.
Prince Albert’s wind chill by that time should be -35 C, with the temperature at -22.
“In Regina right now, winds are gusting up to 60 or 70 km/h (37 to 43 mph) today,” said meteorologist Mark Melsness.
Throughout the province, “we’re still looking for pockets of blowing snow today, but nothing like yesterday. We had near white-out conditions on Highway 11 (Sunday) when the winds came racing through behind that cold front,” he said.
Despite Monday night’s forecast with the wind chill, Melsness noted that Winnipeg is forecasted to be colder, with a wind chill value of -52 C tonight.
He also said the strong wind gusts should die down late Monday night and into Tuesday, a stark contrast to Sunday; the weather agency recorded wind gusts in the 80 km/h (50 mph) range, with the strongest measurement coming out of Rockglen, 94 km/h (58 mph).
Temperature-wise, the province should return to normal values on Thursday and Friday this week, with highs at our around -10 C and lows at or around -22.
In its weather warning, Environment Canada also reminded people that “if it’s too cold for you to stay outside, it’s too cold for your pet to stay outside.”
When wind chill values fall into the -28 to -39 range, exposed skin can freeze in 10 to 30 minutes.