(Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Cold warning ends

Melfort and Nipawin experience record-breaking cold ahead of warm-up

Feb 17, 2021 | 12:00 PM

The cold snap in Saskatchewan is coming to end after record breaking cold temperatures in several communities.

On Saturday, Nipawin saw the temperature dip as low as -43.9 C beating the old record of -42.8 C. Melfort’s new record of -41.7 C beat the old record -39.4 C. The previous records are from the same day in 1936.

Environment Canada meteorologist Natalie Hazel said by Sunday, temperatures will be close to or just above zero.

“It is within the realm of possibility certain models have been pointing toward well above normal temperatures for quite a while now,” Hazel said. “I don’t know if plus two is too optimistic though.”

The extreme cold warning that had been in place for well over a week came to an end on Tuesday morning. Wind chills were still in the -30 C range overnight and in the morning.

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“We do still have wind chills that are bad even though the warning criteria are not being met,” Hazel said. “For anyone working outdoors and especially very early in the morning, conditions could still be quite cold and all precautions suggested during the cold warning would still apply.”

The first jump in temperature will be today with the a daytime high of -17 C and then another big jump on Friday with a daytime high of -9 C. The forecast shows the temperature at -3 C on Saturday and then zero on Sunday.

“The forecast suggests that after that temperatures fall back down to normal,” Hazel said. “There are a few models that suggest we get another plunge but not as badly as the one we just went through.”

Any activities or projects that people were holding off from doing because of the extreme cold, Hazel suggested taking advantage of the warm-up this weekend.

“The issue might be if we do see temperatures above zero, road conditions could be effected by that if we have melting and then it re-freezes,” Hazel said. “Instead of cold and dry we will get icy roads instead and road conditions could be difficult and might come as a surprise to people if they aren’t paying attention.”

Normal temperatures for this time of year are daytime highs around -8 C for this week and overnight lows of -20 C.

“Don’t expect the zero and plus two type conditions during the day to stick around, so just enjoy it while it is here,” Hazel said.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser