SASKATOON – It felt like -46 C with wind chill when Saskatonians woke up Saturday as temperatures plummeted to a frigid -37 degrees. The frosty start was one of the coldest recorded in the country that morning, but was beat out by Meadow Lake’s -39 degrees with a wind chill of -49 degrees that made it the coldest place in Canada for Jan. 16, 2016.
The arctic blast was also the Bridge City’s first day where the mercury dropped below -30 degrees since last winter, which has normally happened many times by now.
The last time Saskatoon was this cold was over a year ago on Jan. 4, 2015 when a wind chill of -50 degrees was reached as the mercury fell to -37.6 degrees.
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While it may have felt cold, it wasn’t even close to a record breaker for the city.
Record lows are in the -42 to -48-degree range throughout the middle of January.
Temperatures did climb up into the mid-minus 20s and wind chill values into the mid-minus 30s through the day Saturday under sunny skies, however the arctic ridge of high pressure in place over the province will keep skies clear and conditions cool into Sunday.
An extreme cold warning remains in place for Saskatoon and all of central and southern Saskatchewan for wind chill values -40 degrees or colder into Saturday night into Sunday morning.
At extreme wind chill values of -40 degrees, frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 10 minutes. At values below -50 degrees, frostbite may occur in less than 5 minutes.
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