(Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Ronald Quaroni

Arctic Plight

Windchills will blast west-central Saskatchewan this week

Jan 13, 2020 | 11:55 AM

The daytime high for the North Pole is projected to be -26 Celsius on Monday and Prince Albert, Sask. is only going to be two degrees warmer with a daytime high of -24 C.

_{Out of the cooler, into the deepfreeze}

The bad news for residents — it’ll only get colder throughout the week.

“Throughout the remainder of the week we have [daily] high temperatures in and around the -30 C mark for a couple of days with lows of -39 C for Wednesday night,” meteorologist Mark Melsness said. “The normal lows are -25 C, the normal highs are -13 C so we are running well below normal right now.”

The wind will also make it harder for residents to spend extended amounts of time outside. Environment Canada predicts windchills to dip in and out of -40 C area on Monday and Tuesday.

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“When you get into that range, you can see skin freezing in just a few minutes, so take precautions. If you’re travelling make sure to carry an emergency kit with you,” Melsness said.

The cause of the deep freeze is due to an arctic high-pressure ridge that has settled on the Prairies, bringing cold air and the Yukon. The weather is expected to stay until the weekend.

“We’re holding out a little bit of hope for that time period,” Melsness said.

Street cleanup

City crew members are facing their own set of unique challenges due to the cold.

Sand and salt mixes are not as effective on icy sections of road during these cold snaps.

“The material we’re putting down isn’t going to work as well, but we are going to put down more gravel than salt,” the city’s roadways manager, Brent Kennedy told paNOW. “Sand is going to be our main focus on the streets, for the traction, but the roads are going to be icy with the cold weather.”

Kennedy said it won’t be long before crews begin tackling other areas of the city.

“I’m not sure exactly what day, but we’ll be looking to move into residential areas this week,” Kennedy said.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni