The sun might be shining in Lethbridge, but that doesn’t mean it’s warm.
Lethbridge started off another Wednesday with extreme cold warnings, something that has happened more this year, than last.
“Extreme cold warnings are issued by Environment Canada when either the air temperature reads -40 or colder or when a combination of air temperature and wind, creating a wind chill is equivalent of -40 and we do those when the conditions are expected to last at least two hours,” said Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
The bitter cold weather has created some challenges for city crews who dealt with major water works issues.
“We are having some issues with water main breaks. There’s a large amount of frost in the ground now what causes us the grief, it moves in the ground and its probably down near four to five feet,” added Neal Povey, with the City of Lethbridge.
Many are asking, is this year the norm, or are the mild mannered winter months we saw last year more on par?
According to Environment Canada, what we’re seeing now is closer to the mark.
“This is, I think maybe not the average winter but it is certainly more typical of what winter would be compared to last year,” said Kulak.
December was the 19th coldest we’ve seen in over 100 years.
Wild swings in the forecast on a monthly and even weekly basis isn’t uncommon for Lethbridge, thanks to the Chinook winds.
The good news, we’re expected to be in the double digits by next week.
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