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Expect extreme cold to end as Pacific winds breeze into Alberta
CBC
A bleak winter cold snap that has brought icy winds and iron cold to Alberta is about to end.
After weeks of cold weather misery, there is finally a spot of warmth in the long-term forecast.
According to Environment Canada, temperatures are expected to rise more than 40 degrees next week, from breathtaking lows of around –35 C to balmy highs above freezing.
"If that isn't a province-wide chinook, I don't know what is," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.
"It's going to go from parkas and balaclavas to hey, muscle shirts and tank tops maybe. I mean, people are going to embrace this. This is going to be an atmospheric gift."
Much of Western Canada, the North and parts of Ontario and Quebec were under extreme cold alerts, winter storm watches or special weather statements and Alberta has been no exception.
The province is at the centre of a polar vortex that took hold on Christmas day.
A prolonged cold snap that has seen communities across the province shatter weather records, while stressing the power grid, turning highways into skating rinks, draining car batteries and killing furnaces.
Temperatures across the province have hovered around –35 C, around 20 degrees below average, with biting winds that make it feel more like –45 or –50.
As of Wednesday, almost all of Alberta, with the exception of a few communities along the western edge of the province, remained under extreme cold warnings.
The dangerously frigid weather has been particularly stubborn, with extreme cold warnings remaining in place for days at a time, and blips of relatively warm weather so brief you could sleep through them, Phillips said.
"You've had 29 days in a row with below freezing temperatures," Phillips said. "You have had essentially almost a month of cold with just a couple of little interludes.
"It's been a continuous cold that really begins to wear people down. Even veterans of winter conditions can find those conditions a little tough."
The province is expected to thaw out next week. On Monday, Edmonton could reach an afternoon high around 7 C while Calgary could see 14 C, though Phillips cautioned those projections may be overambitious.
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