Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold warning, stating that windchill values would approach -40°C on Tuesday morning in areas North and East of Edmonton, including Fort Saskatchewan, Northern Strathcona, Sturgeon County, Lamont County, and beyond. To the South, Leduc County is also captured in the warning.
“Temperatures are going to moderate a little bit through the day, and that we’re into March, the sun is having a bit more effect on our daytime highs, but we’re kind of stuck in that cold airmass for the next couple of days,” said Rob Griffith, a lead meteorologist with Environment Canada said.
Edmonton, St. Albert, and Sherwood Park are spared from the harshest of the extreme cold due to some cloud coverage, “there’s a bit of cloud that’s sort of wrapping from Northern Alberta through to West central Alberta that’s sort of clipping Edmonton and areas West, and that cloud is actually keeping it a little bit warmer,” Griffith said. “The lowest windchill values we’re seeing are East central Alberta, Cold Lake, Lloydminster, and Fort Saskatchewan areas.”
Looking ahead, there could be another morning, possibly two, of extreme windchill. “It’s possible the warning is still in effect for Wednesday morning, right now we’re looking at windchills between -35°C and -40°C in the areas East of Edmonton,” Griffith said, “it’s not impossible that Thursday morning again the windchills are in the 35°C range, so it will still be flirting with that extreme cold criteria.”
Griffith warns that frostbite can occur in minutes on exposed skin at such extreme cold temperatures, “keep bundled up in layers, it’s bitterly cold,” he said, “You definitely want to cover up your exposed skin … limit your exposure to the windchill.”
Griffith predicts the temperatures should moderate back to typical averages by Thursday afternoon, with daytime highs of 0°C to -1°C and lows of -10°C to -11°C.
