Bundle up: a blast of cold, arctic air is headed our way over the weekend. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Cold Weather Ahead

Arctic air to sweep through Prince Albert

Dec 3, 2021 | 8:00 AM

A warmer start to December won’t last long as a cold front is sweeping in and likely to settle in for a few days. Starting on Friday night, the temperature will get steadily colder through the weekend.

After a high of around 5 C on Wednesday, a quick system brought snow through on Thursday. It’s what’s coming on the heels of that system that will likely have you bundling up and plugging in your car soon enough.

“In behind that, we’re starting to see the temperatures start to drop more behind seasonal values,” said Terri Lang, regional meteorologist with Environment Canada. “Average temperature for this time of year is a high around -9 C and a low around -19 C so we’ve been running way above average.”

A blast of cold arctic air will drop the temperatures in a hurry, though there will be some more sunshine to go along with it. So far, temperatures have been well above the seasonal average for this time of year (which hovers around -9 C at the high) but that will change.

“Looks like we’ll be getting overnight lows toward that -30 C mark, perhaps even below that,” Lang said. “With that comes the chance of the windchill really coming up. I don’t know if they’ll get into the extreme category, they certainly could, but certainly some really cold temperature compared to what we’ve been treated to the last couple of weeks.”

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It’s fair to call this the coldest stretch of winter so far, though Lang said meteorological winter doesn’t begin until December 1 anyway. And if you think misery loves company, just know that this cold snap won’t be limited to Prince Albert.

“It’s going to cover most of the prairies, which is usually the case,” Lang said. “When we get these big ridges of high pressure that come in from the arctic, they usually take up a lot of space. The air is very dense and very heavy so it kind of moves all the milder air out of the way and just sits there.”

The forecasts show the coldest day will be Monday, while Sunday night will be the coldest evening. By the middle of next week, the temperature will start to rise again.

“It won’t be a massive warmup, it will just be more toward seasonal averages out of that really cold air,” Lang said. “We may see some flurry activity when the temperatures change like that, which is often the case.”

Lang added because the cold weather would be accompanied by clear skies, we wouldn’t get much snow, which the region needs to help build up that base of it and provide moisture.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP