Bitterly cold winter weather chills Southern Manitoba

Canadians from Regina to Thunder Bay were piling on the extra layers this morning as the mercury plunged to near -30 degrees Celsius and the winds made it feel like closer to -45!

These extreme temperatures are due to frigid arctic air being drawn down in the wake of the powerful storm that swept through the area and into northern Quebec over the weekend. After dumping a massive amount of snow across the southern prairies, temperatures dropped steadily as the system moved off to the east, starting at around -15°C early Saturday morning and reaching a bone-chilling -30°C late last night.

[ Related: Extreme windchill bites into Manitoba ]

Windchill warnings issued by Environment Canada have been canceled for southern Saskatchewan and will likely be called off for southern Manitoba this afternoon, as the temperatures rise above the warning criteria, however the deep freeze won't be over for some time.

Daily highs are expected to only go up to between -15 and -20 degrees, and overnight lows will drop down to -25 to -30 degrees, with more frigid windchills expected.

[ Related: Strong winter storm buffets central, eastern Canada ]

This cold air will be moving east over the next few days, impacting southern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces before temperatures start to warm up again, at least a little bit, for the weekend.