Winter wallop hits prairies for last weekend of January

On Sunday, a powerful low pressure system swept across the prairies and brought heavy snowfall, freezing rain, dangerously strong winds and record-setting temperatures with it.

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Wind gusts

Gusts reaching 100 km/h howled in Calgary, Waterton and near Wetaskiwin. Regions near Red Deer and Slave Lake recorded even stronger winds.

The following locations in Alberta had wind gusts over 90 km/h:

• Champion
• Crestomere
• Barnwell
• Sunnynook
• Coronation
• Stettler
• Morrin
• Island Lake
• Pinhorn
• Slave Lake
• Black Diamond
• Hand Hills
• Sheerness
• Edmonton
• Airdrie

In Saskatchewan, there were gusts over 80 km/h hurling a thousand pound hay bale across a field and over a fence.

Rockglen was the only location that recorded wind gusts over 90 km/h in Saskatchewan.

The cities of Saskatoon, North Battleford, Prince Albert and Swift Current had gusts clocking in at 80 km/h or stronger.

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Record highs

As for temperatures, one of the hottest places in Canada on Sunday was the city of Calgary.

Two locations hit record high temperatures in the early morning hours:

Coronation, Alta.

• New record: 7.5 C
• Old record: 6.3 C set in 1984

Leader, Sask.

• New record: 6.9 C
• Old record: 6.7 C set in 1976

The warmer temperatures caused freezing rain across Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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On Sunday morning, Saskatoon recorded five hours of freezing rain. As a cold front moved through, temperatures dropped quickly and rain turned to snow.

Record cold

It was bitterly cold in Manitoba, where three locations set new record lows around -40 C.

Island Lake

• New record: -42.2 C
• Old record: -39.4 C set in 1971

Berens river

• New record: -40.4
• Old record: -39.4 C set in 1957

Fisher Branch

• New record: -38.4 C
• Old record: -38.3 C set in 1966

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Snowfall

In Kananaskis, Alta., and Prince Albert, Sask., 15 to 20 cm of snow fell.

Below are snowfall measurements recorded by Environment Canada:

• 16 cm in Kananaskis, Alta.
• 15-20 cm in Prince Albert, Sask.
• 11 cm in High Level, Alta.
• 10 cm in Pekisko, Alta.
• 15 cm in Exshaw, Alta.
• 8 cm in Mildred Lake, Alta.
• 8 cm in Nordegg, Alta.
• 7 cm in Elkwater, Alta.
• 10 cm in Emma Lake, Sask.
• 8 cm in Cypress Hills, Sask.

In less than 24 hours, the prairies saw just about every kind of winter weather there is.

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