Extreme cold, high winds and snow leave much of Canada under weather warnings

Much of Western Canada, the North and parts of Ontario and Quebec were under extreme cold alerts, winter storm watches or special weather statements Tuesday night.

There is a lot going on across the country right now," said CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe. "In this case, it's a combination of Arctic air entrenched in the west and an active storm track for the east."

Environment Canada posted winter storm watches across parts of Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and Metro Vancouver, warning of up to 20 centimetres of snow through Thursday with the added risk of freezing rain in the Fraser Valley.

The latest forecast was in addition to earlier warnings of extreme cold persisting through the end of the week for parts of Yukon, northern B.C. and the Elk Valley area of southeastern B.C.

Environment Canada says with the wind chill, temperatures could reach –50 C in parts of northern B.C., while the temperature along the North and Central Coast could feel as cold as –20 C.

Avalanche Canada also warned that danger ratings are high and backcountry travel is not recommended in areas of the South Coast, Sea-to-Sky and Vancouver Island mountains blanketed by at least 100 centimetres of snow since New Year's Day.

Next door, nearly all of Alberta was under an extreme cold alert, with temperatures there also expected to go as low as –50 C in the north, and –40 C throughout much of the rest of the province.

And it was the same story in Saskatchewan. In Regina, it was even too cold to ice skate on what's billed as the city's biggest outdoor skating rink.

Forecast highs in Regina are –26 C on Wednesday and –29 C on Thursday, according to Environment Canada.

In Manitoba, the cold Arctic ridge is bringing overnight lows of –25 C to –30 C to southern Manitoba Tuesday night, Environment Canada said in its extreme cold warning. The wind chill will make it feel like –40 C.

Northern Manitoba will be even colder, with overnight lows dipping below –30 C and wind chill values of –45 or below expected.

In Ontario, it was also all about extreme cold in the north, with Environment Canada warning, "Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill. If it's too cold for you to stay outside, it's too cold for your pet to stay outside." 

Steven Flisfeder, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada and Climate Change, told CBC News that the region can expect "overall below seasonal temperatures" for much of the month of January. 

"Even without the warnings, the temperatures are very, very cold. So limit your time outside as much as possible, and be sure to cover up exposed skin," he said. "If you don't have to be outside, then it's safer to stay inside."