Reprieve from cold on the way
A FEW MORE FRIGID DAYS IN THE FORECAST
Just a few more days! If southern Albertans can hang on for the rest of the year — til Jan.1 — they’ll see an end to the holiday period’s blasts of winter.
The polar vortex of super-cold air will linger until the New Year’s weekend, according to meteorologists at Environment Canada. But Jan. 1 could dawn bright and balmy — just -4 C in Lethbridge that day, they’re predicting, and -2 the day after.
Later in the week, their colleagues at the Weather Network are calling for plus 2 next Thursday, a week from now.
But overnight lows will remain in plug-in territory until Dec. 31, warns the Environment Canada forecast. As of Wednesday afternoon, this morning’s low was predicted at -24 C — followed by -26 tonight, -27 on Friday night and -29 Saturday night.
Wind chills were predicted to be as cold as -34 C on Wednesday night, -31 tonight.
Periods of snow are also likely until Sunday, forecasts say. Then skies will clear as the current cold snap — powered by an upper layer of frigid air that spilled over the North Pole from Siberia — begins to moderate.
Officials have lifted the extreme cold warning for Lethbridge and southwestern Alberta meanwhile, though an alert was still in effect Wednesday for Medicine Hat.
The new year will begin with much warmer weather, The Weather Network predicts. After a high of 2 C next Thursday, forecasters are expecting daytime highs in the -4 to -6 C range through the following week, with overnight lows of -7 or -8.
Forecasters are reluctant to look further ahead than that. But they point to long-term weather records for January as an indication of what Lethbridge and southern Alberta residents can expect.
Mid-month temperatures in January usually hover around zero during the day, dropping to -10 or 12 overnight, the records show.
Later in January — with just two months until it’s officially spring — the city’s longtime averages have continued to reach zero or plus 1 in the afternoon, dipping to -10 or -11 at night.
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