Saskatchewan continues to be gripped by deep freeze

Saskatchewan is in a deep freeze — with some record-breaking temperatures — but Environment Canada’s Terri Lang said this shouldn’t catch anyone off guard.

“We’re right on track with how winter unfolds in Saskatchewan. February is often very, very cold and a lot of our records sit in the mid -40s so you add a few kilometre(-per-hour) wind onto that and you’ll get those high wind chills,” Lang said Monday afternoon.

Saskatoon did see a record fall overnight and into Monday morning, reaching -40.4 C. The previous record was -40.2 set in 1994.

Meanwhile Regina came up quite short when it came to a record low for the day, reaching -38.1. The record is -43.3 set in 1899.

Lang said these temperatures might be off-putting to some because of how spoiled Saskatchewan residents have been when it comes to the weather this winter.

“December and January were quite mild, so I think we got a little bit spoiled and a little bit soft because this is very much in keeping with how Saskatchewan winters are. What’s unusual is we haven’t seen this cold yet so to feel it this cold I think is a bit of a shock for people,” Lang said.

The extreme cold warning Environment Canada issued remains in place for all of the province.

Frostbite is one of the main concerns when temperatures fall this low. A wind chill below -40 can freeze skin within minutes. Hypothermia is also a concern when people are out in this weather.

Lang said people need to be prepared to bundle up for the next week.

“It’s looking cold well into the weekend. Some of the models are indicating it should kind of warm up to more seasonal values starting early next week and that’s only warming up to seasonal values. I don’t think we’ll be out barbecuing anytime soon but hopefully the really cold cold will start making its way out of here,” Lang said.