Deadly cold back in Calgary, but another big shift coming
Posted Jan 11, 2018 7:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The weekend can’t come fast enough and not just because it brings a break from work.
An extreme cold warning is in effect for most of the province as a couple of days of icy wind chills are expected.
The high for Thursday is a not completely outrageous minus 21 degrees Celsius with a chance of flurries, but the wind chill will make it feel like minus 40.
The overnight low will be minus 25, before it warms up to minus 15 Friday but again, the wind chill will still be minus 33.
Meteorologist Andrew Schultz said those temperatures can be deadly if you’re not prepared.
“That warm car’s fine but what if it breaks down five minutes into your drive?” he asked. “What if that bus is broken down or very late? You’ve got to be prepared, we talk time and time again about layers but in a mere matter of minutes frostbite can set in. It’s serious business.”
The frigid cold is the result of a few things. There is a huge arctic air mass and a low jet stream, combined with an expanding high pressure system in Saskatchewan.
“So we’ve got that clearing, that arctic air (with) the jet drawing it in, it’s kind of like the perfect recipe for cold,” explained Schultz.
The jet stream moves to the northeast of Calgary and temperatures return to normal, around minus 3 degrees, over the weekend.
But by Tuesday, the high could be into the low teens on the plus side.
