After a relatively warm winter so far, southern Manitoba is about to get hit hard by a polar vortex.
Environment Canada meteorologist Chris Stammers told 680 CJOB’s The Start that the truly bone-chilling temperatures are only a few days away.
“I’m unfortunately not going to be making too many friends over this news, but the cold weather is on its way back,” Stammers said.
“We’ve had a nice break since about Christmastime here in southern Manitoba, but it does look like the cold is on its way.
“There’s going to be a little bit of snow tonight and tomorrow afternoon, then we’ll see the real cold air start to work its way in by the weekend.”
Stammers said for about a 10-day period, beginning on the weekend, the region will be seeing highs in the -20s, with lows regularly going below -30 C.
“We’ll see windchills into the -40s, so certainly expect some extreme cold warnings.
“It’s going to be quite prolonged, unfortunately. … It does look like it’ll be seven to 10 days of pretty cold temperatures.”
While none of that is positive news for Manitobans hoping to take in some outdoor activities in the near future, there is a bright side … literally. According to Stammers, the cold weather will be accompanied by a lot of sunshine.
“That’s always the good news — the only good news, I guess,” he said.
“When you see those kinds of temperatures, you will get a lot of sun, so that’s the silver lining.”