It’s a bitterly cold week in Saskatchewan, but well-known Environment Canada meteorologist David Phillips believes the rest of the winter might not be so bad. He expects this week before Christmas could very well be the coldest moment of the winter. “I looked at the maps this morning (Tues) and for January across the Prairies and all of Canada, it shows warm, warm, warm – not July warmth, no, but certainly milder than normal.”

He expects the cold spell will inch back to average temperatures beginning on Christmas Day. Phillips doesn’t believe the rest of the winter will be the relentless kind of cold that December has been. The long-range forecast is calling for highs ranging between minus 8 and minus 12 in Saskatchewan on Christmas Day.

In the meantime, there is an Extreme Cold Warning for about half of the province, including most of the west side of Saskatchewan up to as far north as La Loche, and then east and south to include Prince Albert and Shellbrook and surrounding areas and everything south and east of that.

For the far north, that means extremely cold wind chill values near minus 45 overnight and through the early morning hours through the rest of the week.
In central and southern regions, it’s between -40 and -50 with the windchill overnight and into the early hours but moderating by the weekend.