‘Siberian Express’ still situated over Saskatchewan

The so-called “Siberian Express” still hasn’t left the station in Saskatchewan.

Environment Canada once again issued extreme cold warnings for areas of northern Saskatchewan and regions in the south Monday as a cold front that came from Siberia remained in place.

Regina, Lumsden, Fort Qu’Appelle, Indian Head, Estevan, Weyburn, Yorkton, Melville, Esterhazy, Moosomin, Grenfell, Kipling and Wawota were among the areas under the advisory.

David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, says extreme cold warnings haven’t been issued for Moose Jaw or Saskatoon because those areas aren’t cold enough, with the forecast calling for a high of -20 C with a wind chill of -30 C in the afternoon.

“We probably will end our extreme cold warning (for Regina) sometime today because we’ll see that the winds are going to die down tonight and we won’t see those -40 wind chills,” Phillips told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Monday.

“This is not as cold as (what Regina experienced) in December (when there were wind chill values of -47 C).”

Phillips said this cold snap will be short-lived and he doesn’t expect it to go on as long as it did in December.

“By Friday, (Regina) is going to have above-seasonal temperatures,” Phillips said. “Seasonal this time of year would be a high of -9.”

According to Environment Canada, air temperatures in the -30 to -35 range combined with winds of 10 to 20 kilometres per hour will produce extreme wind chill values of -40 to -45.

“In eastern Saskatchewan, extreme wind chill values will moderate today and may be borderline to meet extreme cold criteria tonight.”

According to Environment Canada’s forecast for Regina, the wind chill was to be -28 C Monday afternoon before dropping to -36 C overnight. On Tuesday, the high in the city is to be -20 C, with wind chills of -33 C in the morning and -27 C in the afternoon.

The frigid temperatures are expected to continue until Friday, when a high of -9 C is forecast for Regina and a high of -8 C is predicted for Saskatoon.

As for the month of February, Phillips expects temperatures to be cooler than they were in January, but still warmer than they were in December.