A cold Arctic airmass has dipped into the Southwest, plunging the entire province into a Extreme Cold Warning on February 22.
The Southwest had not met the threshold to be included into the warning range until late this afternoon, but Environment Canada has now extended an Extreme Cold Warning for all of Saskatchewan for Wednesday night and into Thursday morning..
Temperatures in the -30 to -40 range are expected tonight and extreme windchill values in the -40 to -45 Celsius range will be experienced province wide.
Extreme cold warnings are issued when very cold temperatures or wind chill creates an elevated risk to health such as frost bite and hypothermia.
Environment Canada shared the following cautions with their Extreme Cold Warning.
“Extreme cold puts everyone at risk.
“Risks are greater for young children, older adults, people with chronic illnesses, people working or exercising outdoors, and those without proper shelter.
“Watch for cold related symptoms: shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes.
“Cover up. 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.”
The extreme cold is anticipated to be short lived, as temperatures are forecast to return to near seasonal values by the weekend.
