Warmth will start to fade on the Prairies after January records set
Tuesday certainly took the cake for high temperatures this week as downsloping winds raced off the Rockies.
An extended stretch of spring-like weather on the Prairies brought temperatures that soared to 10-20+ degrees above normal.
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The atypical warmth led to numerous records being broken, including an impressive 21.1°C reading documented in Maple Creek, Sask. It was enough to make it the new, all-time January record for Saskatchewan.
Warmth set January records
The abnormal warmth building over the Prairies arrived courtesy of the same pattern responsible for drenching rains in British Columbia. We saw a formidable ridge build over the middle of the country.
Mild air flowed in from the Pacific, combined with sinking air beneath the ridge itself, worked together to send temperatures far above seasonal from Winnipeg to Edmonton and even deep into the territories up north.
Everything we promised for Tuesday, delivered! Tuesday morning started out quite windy along the foothills, especially for Grande Prairie, Alta., where a wind gust of 111 km/h passed through the city.
Temperatures began to increase pretty early in the day and continued to hover around record territory.
Edmonton airport reached a temperature of 10.4°C, making it the hottest January day on record. The city on the other hand, was slightly warmer with 12.4°C. However, with the longer record-keeping for the city, it was its third-warmest January temperature on record, but its hottest in 93 years.
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Although impressive records, those temperatures weren’t as warm as other places on the Prairies.
Maple Creek, Sask., was the big winner of the day, and even in the past few days with double-digit temperatures now for four days in a row.
Jan. 27: 10°C
Jan. 28: 14.9°C
Jan. 29: 15.8°C
Jan: 30: 21.1°C
The reading in Maple Creek on Tuesday makes it the January record for the community but and the monthly, provincial record, as well. It was only 1.1°C off from the national, monthly record of 22.2°C, set Niagara Falls, Ont., on Jan. 26, 1950.
Not as impressive as 21.1°C, but still a record is the 17.0°C that Swift Current, Sask., reached Tuesday, making it the record-monthly temperature, as well.
Although the warmth was in the southern Prairies, that didn’t stop Churchill, Man., from also breaking a monthly January record, reaching 2.7°C early on Tuesday.
What's next for the Prairies?
January has been a month of extremes, including record-breaking cold and warmth.
Temperatures are still expected to remain above seasonal for the coming days, just not as mild, but we will still see some warmth across the southern Prairies.
A more active pattern is likely to develop across the Prairies for the opening days of February.
Stay with The Weather Network for the latest on your forecast across the Prairies.
