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The extreme cold weather continues to pummel Saskatchewan.
As of 7 a.m. Thursday, every region in the province was under an extreme cold warning issued by Environment Canada.
The agency said three communities in the province — Elbow (-37.3 C, breaking the previous mark of -37.2 C in 1962), Meadow Lake (-40.7 C; old record was -39.4 C in 1962) and Wynyard (-37.5 C; previous record was -36.2 C in 1978) — set temperature records Thursday morning.
Prince Albert was the provincial cold spot, dipping to -42 C. However, that did not break the 1907 mark of -45 C.
Regina reached -35.1 C, more than five degrees warmer than its record of -40.6 C. And Saskatoon got down to -39.3 C, but that was four degrees warmer than its record of -43.3 C.
The weather agency expected a “period of very cold wind chills” for Thursday morning.
“Extreme cold wind chill values of -40 C to -50 continue,” it said in a statement.
However, those wind chill values “will ease today, for most regions, as a passing low brings warmer temperatures to the region. However, the cold will return on Friday night as more Arctic air spills southeastwards across the region,” its weather statement said.
The province’s warm spot was Swift Current: At 7 a.m., the city was at -28 C, but with a wind chill value of -42.
The extreme cold weather Thursday cancelled several school bus routes in and around Regina, Moose Jaw and the province’s southern regions.
Environment Canada reminded people to bundle up, stay warm and “watch for cold related symptoms: Shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes.
“Dress warmly. Dress in layers that you can remove if you get too warm. The outer layer should be wind resistant.”
It also recommended covering exposed skin. “Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.”
SaskEnergy sets a record
SaskEnergy revealed Thursday that the daily natural gas consumption in the province during the cold snap has broken the previous usage record three times this week.
The previous mark of 1.50 PetaJoules (PJ) was set in December of 2018 and matched in February of 2019. SaskEnergy said 1.53 PJ were used in Saskatchewan from 9 a.m. Monday to 9 a.m. Tuesday, 1.54 PJ were consumed from 9 a.m. Tuesday to 9 a.m. Wednesday, and 1.56 PJ were used from 9 a.m. Wednesday to 9 a.m. Thursday.
SaskEnergy said a PetaJoule equals one million GigaJoules (GJ). The average home in the province consumes about 100 GJ of natural gas each year.
