Temperatures in the West Central portion of the province drastically changed in the span of 24 hours. An active system moving east has brought inclement weather to the area, bringing with it strong winds and frigid temperatures.  

Sarah Hoffman, who works for Environment and Climate Change Canada, detailed how the system will move through the province and how strong the expected winds will be.  

“This low-pressure system is just getting spun up and it will dive southeastward across Saskatchewan into Manitoba. We have a very active cold front that will swing through the region and bring gusts up to 80 kilometers per hour.” 

The strong winds combined with loose snow on the ground will make for winterlike driving conditions throughout Tuesday as well. The winds are expected to decrease late Tuesday evening. 

Temperatures will plummet well below zero through Wednesday with wind chills reaching -40 degrees Celsius and occurring during the nighttime hours.  

The cold snap should be short lived and the frigid temperatures will move out of the region, bringing warmer temperatures, added Hoffman.  

“After the system swings through, we fall into a cool air mass which will swing down from the north and we’re looking at some below normal temperatures until the end of this week when we get back into a closer to above normal range.” 

Temperatures are expected to improve on Thursday and last into next week.