WINNIPEG – You’re not imagining it — it’s been a bad winter.
Winnipeg has had 71 days with a wind chill below -30 since Dec. 1, Environment Canada says. The wind chill value has gone below -40 for 29 of those days. And we’ve even had a day (Jan. 5) where the wind chill dipped to -51.
Winnipeg normally has about 40 days with a wind chill below -30.
Students at Winnipeg’s Tyndall Park School have spent many days inside at recess due to the bitterly cold temperatures. Tuesday was no different.
“I’ve been teaching for a long time and this is the longest stretch I can remember,” said teacher Valerie Allan.
At the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Automobile Association, staff who spend their days outside boosting and towing broken-down vehicles have also had enough.
“Our drivers are tired of the cold, our trucks are breaking down and having issues of their own, and our members we’re serving day in day out are not only having a problem once, but they’re calling us back with another problem,” said the CAA’s Liz Peters.
Snowfall numbers have also been high this winter.
Winnipeg has had 127 centimetres of snow since Nov. 1. By this time last year, only 120 cm had fallen. But it’s by no means a record. During the winter of 1996-97, 141.2 cm fell by the end of February. That was also the year of the Flood of the Century – which included a massive one-day snowfall in the first week of April.
The City of Winnipeg has had three residential plowing operations and seven declared snow route parking bans so far this winter. That’s above average when looking at plow operations over the past 20 years. There have been more windy days this winter, which caused more drifting of snow on streets.
Comments