By Glenn Hicks

Temperatures set to rise to unusual highs

Jan 16, 2018 | 11:00 AM

After weeks of very cold weather, the temperature could get close to zero come Wednesday and Thursday. Environment Canada has forecast a midweek rise to a maximum of -1 Celsius, although the earlier threat of rain appears to have subsided.

With local roadways compacted with hard snow, any sudden melt would cause problems and the city is making preparations.

“We will be deploying our sanding trucks throughout the city,” Prince Albert’s operations manager Mohammed Kraishan told paNOW. “We want to ensure we maintain the roadways and prevent slippery conditions as much as possible.”

Although road and sidewalk safety is on the mind of city officials, there does not appear to be any major concern with infrastructure such as pipes and drainage coping with the sudden increase in temperatures.

“The duration of melting will be short,” Kraishan said. “It’s not like a couple of weeks or [like spring time] when we might expect to see pooling with freeze thaw cycles. The switch in temperature is for a day or two and is not enough to drive the frost out of the pavement.”

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The forecast was calling for a midweek rise to -1 C and -2 C for two consecutive days and a surprisingly high minimum of -5 C Thursday night. The average high for mid-January is -13.4 C while the average low is -25.6 C.

For Kraishan, the main issue with the sudden relative warmth will be the driving conditions.

“We’d like the public to be careful as the temperature rises and the streets may become slippery.” 

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow