In an already-cold winter, extreme cold warnings have been all too common, and another could be coming this week. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Colder More Often

More extreme cold than usual this winter and more on the way

Feb 14, 2022 | 11:02 AM

If it feels like this winter has had more extremely cold days than usual, that’s because it has. And according to Environment Canada, we’re not done with those frigid temperatures yet.

The forecast for this week calls for a low of -33 C on Wednesday night, and with the wind chill there’s a good chance things will dip below -40 C again. The first major drop in temperature will come on Tuesday night before Wednesday hits the coldest point of the week.

“We do have another weather system coming through,” said Terri Lang, a regional meteorologist with Environment Canada. “Looks like sort of tomorrow morning, a little bit of snow with that. In behind that, we do get colder temperatures. There will be a push of arctic air. By Thursday morning we’ll be falling into those really cold temperatures, probably below -30 C.”

Once again, the jet stream, which serves as the dividing line between the warmer and colder air, sits practically on top of Saskatchewan. It flows from the northwest to the southeast, and its placement has led to some wacky weather.

“Any time that jet stream wobbles, either it moves northeast and you kind of get into the warmer air or it moves southwest then you get into the colder air again,” Lang said. “All the weather systems tend to travel along the jet stream so you’ll get a shot of snow and then in behind you get that plunge in temperature.”

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Plunges in temperature have been all too common this season, and after a milder winter last year they’ve come as a bit of a shock to the system for many. There have been far more cold days this winter than in the one previous, and generally more than average as well.

“In December, there were nine days -30 C or colder,” Lang said. “The average for December is five days. December was on the cold side, it came out to be the 29^th coldest out of 136 years.”

January also saw more days below -30 C than usual, and February has already hit the average with half the month to go. For every -40 C day, however, there comes a dramatic warm-up. Last week, it came on Thursday when the temperatures hit 4 C.

“Yes, we’re getting more than average colder days, but the warmer days are offsetting the average,” Lang said. “It’s bringing up the average because the warm days are so much warmer.”

Lang added she’s not seeing any massively warmer days in the near future, but Thursday will warm up to about average from the extreme cold of Wednesday night.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP