It's so cold in the Yukon, some places have been –50 C. Here's what's causing the extreme cold snap
CBC
The Yukon has been grappling with an extreme cold weather system that's pushing the power grid to the brink because it can't keep up with demand.
Communities like Faro, about 360 kilometres northeast of Whitehorse, and Carmacks, around 180 kilometres north of the territory's capital, have been experiencing lows of –50 C since Monday.
Temperatures started to dip below –30 C earlier this month, and there's been no relief since. Here's what's causing this inclement weather to stick around in the Yukon.
"What we’re seeing in Yukon is an Arctic ridge of high pressure," Environment Canada meteorologist Tanmay Rane told CBC News. "What happens is, once a cold front passes, all the cold air behind it follows the cold front.”
Since cold air tends to sink because it’s heavier than warm air, it sinks down to the surface, pushing the air surrounding it out of the way.
"When it does that, when [cold air] clears the air underneath it, air from aloft comes down to fill that pocket," Rane said.
Air that’s aloft, or higher above the surface, is colder than the air that’s at the surface, so as it fills the pocket left behind, it creates cooler conditions, Rane said.
Alongside that sinking effect, skies have remained clear. Without clouds in the sky to absorb heat radiated from the Earth’s surface and send it back down, Rane said the heat escapes to space overnight, preventing temperatures from rising.
"So night after night, Yukon is getting colder and colder because of the clear skies, and a high-pressure system like that is pretty stagnant."
Environment Canada issued yellow weather alerts to 11 Yukon communities, including Whitehorse. Here’s how low temperatures have gotten within the past 24 hours:
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