The bitterly cold temperatures we’ve been shivering through should be gone by the weekend.
Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson (Jeff KOHL-sun) says a large polar vortex has allowed the extreme cold to dip down into the southern U.S.
It also means warmer than usual temperatures in the far North. The furthest north that Environment Canada observes conditions is Alert, Nunavut. When our region had temperatures around minus-34 this morning, it was a relatively balmy minus-26.
“The coldest air at this point looks like it’s going to be with us through Friday night into Saturday morning,” Coulson observes, “and then we do see a gradual moderating trend in those temperatures through Sunday and into next week.”
“Moderate” means closer to season values of minus ten during the day, minus 24 overnight.
Coulson adds that no low-temperature records have been broken during this latest cold snap.
“In looking at the numbers, we’ve been much, much colder than normal, but we still do see that there were colder temperatures back — actually, 1979 was a very cold February.”
To compare latest conditions in Alert and our region, click here and here.