Extreme cold floods Saskatchewan for New Year’s Eve

As the hours count down to the end of 2018, Environment Canada is warning people in Saskatchewan that the wind chill could hit -40 C and lower on Monday.

“We do have an arctic air mass that’s pretty much flooding the entire prairies right now,” meteorologist David Baggaley said. “Temperatures are getting close to the -25 range, and wind chills are generally around -36 or -37 right now.”

As of Monday morning at 6:30, Regina and Saskatoon were under extreme cold warnings.

Regina was at -28 with a wind chill of -41, while Saskatoon was -29 with a wind chill of -40.

Three-quarters of the province, all except southwest areas, was under an extreme cold warning.

Baggaley said the weather agency issues the warnings when temperatures or wind chill values hit -40 or lower.

He cautioned people to be aware of the dangers of frost bite and hypothermia in such conditions.

“Hypothermia is a little bit more subtle; it creeps up on you and can render you incapacitated,” he said

Skin can become frost bitten in a few minutes in such cold conditions.

Either way, he said people should bundle up and cover any exposed skin.

Baggaley advised the same for New Year’s Eve partiers heading out and planning to stay out until the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Regina is forecasted to be -29 with a wind chill of -38 when the clock strikes zero tonight; Saskatoon is forecasted to be -25 with a wind chill of -33.

– With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray