Polar vortex bringing colder air to P.E.I. on Monday

Don't put away thelong underwear just yetthere's a blast of icy, Arctic air headed south on Monday, bringing below normal temperatures to the region.

As Kevin Boomer Gallant says, it's the dreadedpolar vortex.

"Boy was that a word [we]didn't want to talk about the last couple of years, but it makes a rare for appearance for the start of April in much of central Canada and a little bit here in the Maritimes," says Gallant.

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But before the icy blast,temperatures will rise as high as 10 to 12 C by Friday, saysCBC meteorologist Peter Coade,"keeping in mind that the normal is around 4 C."

It will be a lovely weekend on the Island, Coade says, with sunny skies andtemperatures at about 8 C on Saturday and slightly cooler on Sunday. There may also be some showers on the way for Sunday.

However, starting off the weekit's a different story, with early morning lows of -7 CMonday and -10 C on Tuesday, says Coade, with "the normal morning low being -4 and normal afternoon high +4. which would make the forecast ...some fiveto 10 Ccolder than the normal."

Even so, Coade says there is noneed topanic about thepolar vortex.

"It's a cute name and that, but it just means the cold air is shifting down a little bit farther south from the North Pole ...where it normally sits."

Coadesays that while spring is definitely here despite the cooler weather"you might want to cover up any plants that you might have put in the ground."

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