As bitter, arctic cold grips the province, Environment Canada has issued extreme cold warnings for much of Saskatchewan.
As of 8 a.m. Monday, warnings were in effect across an area stretching from Yorkton, through Humboldt, Saskatoon and the Battlefords and then all the way north to the border with the Northwest Territories.
Meteorologist Brad Vrolijk said areas not under warnings were benefiting from some extra protection.
“Pretty much the cloudy skies delineate where it’s warm enough to not need the warning, versus where we do need the warning,” he said.
But he warned frost bite was still a risk in areas not under extreme cold warnings, such as Regina, Moose Jaw and Swift Current.
Regina had a wind chill of -27 C Friday morning, with a base temperature of -25 C. The weather agency forecast a daytime high of just -18 C , with a low of -25 C.
Vrolijk warned about the wind chill in and around Regina.
“They’re generally going to be in the -30 to the -35 range.”
Moving north to the Saskatoon and Prince Albert areas, Vrolijk said clear skies were allowing more arctic air to settle in.
“This morning in Saskatoon, right now it’s -32, with a wind chill of -42; it’s even colder to the north — it’s -38 in Prince Albert right now.”
Wind chills in those areas were expected to taper off a bit during the day, dropping back into the -40 C range by Friday night.
Further north in La Ronge and Fond du Lac, temperatures were at -35 C and -38, respectively; wind chills in both areas were expected to give values in the high -30s and low -40s C.
Vrolijk said most areas could expect a bit of a warm-up for the weekend.
“Milder air will begin pushing across the province from Alberta on Saturday, and that will spread some cloud cover and a bit of light snow … so generally speaking, in most places we’ll see warmer temperatures tomorrow.”