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Polar vortex pushes extreme winds across the western half of Canada


It seems that the polar vortex is at it again, driving powerful winds across the western half of Canada and sparking weather warnings from northern British Columbia to southern Manitoba.

Wind gusts through B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan reached up to 120 kilometres per hour or more over the past couple of days, causing power outages, avalanches, and damages to trees and buildings. The powerful winds also caused troubles at construction sites, with two men sent to the hospital in Calgary after the winds toppled several framed walls at a house construction site, and a pedestrian construction walkway blowing completely over in Edmonton. The winds may also be responsible for a truck flipping over on its side north of Saskatoon on Wednesday morning, and they forced several flights going into Winnipeg to be diverted to Brandon today.

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Wind warnings have been issued by Environment Canada. These stretched from British Columbia through to Manitoba, however the warnings have ended in B.C. and are slowly being called off in Alberta as the storm tracks eastward. Powerful gusts should continue through Saskatchewan and Manitoba tonight and through Thursday morning, before they calm down into the afternoon.

Along with these blasting winds, record warm temperatures have been spreading with the storm, as warm air is being drawn into the circulation from the south and the west. This is causing unusual temperatures in the north as well, as Whitehorse, which normally sees a high of around -10°C at this time of year, is expected to be +10°C on Thursday. This warm flow is expected to drive temperatures through Alberta and Saskatchewan up into spring-like conditions through the rest of the week.

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It may seem strange, but this wind storm and warm spell for the west is yet another effect of the polar vortex. This naturally-occurring circulation over the Arctic is typically quite strong in the winter months, which means that its winds spin faster and this keeps much of the bitter cold to the north. It's been weaker over the past few weeks, though, which is causing big dips in the 'jet stream'. Earlier this month, one of those extreme dips spread a deep freeze over much of Canada and the United States, while temperatures in Alaska and the Yukon Territory were positively balmy for this time of year. In this case, the pattern is very similar, except that this powerful wind storm is spinning up in its wake, which is pulling in a lot of warm air over the prairies instead of frigid cold.

For areas to the east through Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, this storm is expected to spin off several 'clipper' type storms which should bring snow to Ontario and Quebec, and a mix of wintry weather to the Maritimes, going into the weekend.

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