Deep freeze descends on southern half of Manitoba with extreme cold warnings

Extreme cold warnings have enveloped much of southern Manitoba with the arrival of a bitterly cold arctic air mass that has already shuddered through Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The warnings are now in place as far north as Grand Rapids near the northern part of Lake Winnipeg and all the way south to the international border.

And the bitterly cold temperatures are expected to continue through the rest of 2021, Environment Canadasaid in an alert Wednesday morning.

Temperatures are expected to dip more than 10 degrees Celsius below seasonal averages across southern Manitoba.

Overnight lows dropping into the 30salong with light winds are also anticipated to bring wind chill values of 40 or lower at times across the region, the weather agency said.

Even the daytimehighs will be very cold, with wind chill values near or lower than 30 in many places which will make frostbite within minutes a persistent risk.

The dangerous cold will hang around into the weekend, but more seasonal winter temperatures should return to the region early next week.

In Winnipeg, the highfor Wednesday is forecastto be26 C with a wind chill of42. The temperature will continue a downward slide into Thursday with 31 C in the afternoon and a wind chill of44, according to Environment Canada.

The normal daytime highfor this time of year is 13 C but Winnipeg won't see that for some time. Even when things ease up a bit by early next week, thehighs are still expected to be around18 C or19 C.

Outdoor safety

If you need to go outside during the bitter cold, dress warmly by wearing layers that you can remove if you get too warm, Environment Canada says, adding the outer layer should be wind resistant.

The weather agency also urged people to watch for cold-related symptoms, like shortnessof breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes.

Outdoor workers should take regular breaks to warm up, and pets shouldn't be left outdoors if it's too cold for their owners to stay out themselves, Environment Canada said.

The cold weather has also led to long wait times of around an hour for service from CAA Manitoba, whichaveraged 98 calls an hour Wednesday morning.

About 40 per cent of those calls were battery-related.

The company is prioritizing calls from people stranded on the side of the road before it gets to people whose cars are stuck at home, a spokesperson said.