Bitter cold spell hits Calgary
Posted Feb 28, 2014 9:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Get ready for a very cold weekend.
Environment Canada is forecasting a wind chill of -34C Friday and it will go further down starting overnight and into Saturday, with the coldest temperature hitting around -45C.
It will still be pretty chilly on Sunday, with a low of -30C and a high of -24C.
It appears an extreme wind chill warning will also be issued later Friday afternoon.
The cold is the result of an Arctic air mass, which is also affecting Saskatchewan and Manitoba and will continue south to Montana and even into Nebraska.
Warning Preparedness Meteorologist Brian Proctor said the mass is moving quickly down south.
“It’s very strong but the one good thing about it, it looks to be quite transitional, it’s moving quite quickly, so we’re looking to start rebounding fairly quickly next week, so by mid-to-late next week, we’re looking to a return of much more seasonal values,” he said.
Those values include by Wednesday, an expected high of -2C in Calgary and possibly positive temperatures by Thursday.
As for the time of year of this snap, Proctor said it’s a little unusual.
“It’s not typical by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not atypical if I can put it that way as well, usually the cold air that comes down into the end of February-early March period, tends to be a little bit shorter lived than this air mass looks like it’s going to be,” he said.
Proctor added, Calgary will probably get one or two more outbreaks but this should be the coldest one the rest of the way before spring arrives.
