Record chills grip southern Alberta, but relief is on the way

This morning, communities across southern Alberta were once again enduring some of the coldest temperatures they've had in years, breaking records going back as far back as 1955.

With Arctic chills descending across the entire country over the past week, the prairie provinces have been experiencing some harsh winter conditions — temperatures down into the -30s Celsius and wind chills pushing below -40. For many communities in that part of Canada, this is seen as 'just another winter's day,' but for some in southern Alberta, this morning's frigid temperatures set several new records.

For many towns, records simply don't go back very far. Pincher Creek got down to -24°C, roughly 13 degrees colder than the record set last February 10th. In Edson, this morning's temperature was over 9°C colder than the 2008 record of -24.8°C. For Sundre and Drumheller, at 34.4°C and 32.1°C, respectively, you had to go back to 2001 and 2000 for their last record low. The most 'extreme', though, was Claresholm, south of Calgary. Although they only broke their previous record by just under 6°C, that previous record had held since 1955!

The only 'saving grace' for this frigid weather is that the winds really weren't strong enough to cause any extreme wind chills.

[ More Geekquinox: ‘Star Trek’-like medical devices could soon be on the International Space Station ]

The good news for those living in southern Alberta is that this frigid weather is only going to last for a couple of days longer. In fact, if the forecast holds, most of the region is going to swing up from these chilly extremes to around 5-6°C above zero by Wednesday!

(Photo courtesy: Canadian Press)

Geek out with the latest in science and weather.
Follow @ygeekquinox on Twitter!