Prairies slowly break from bitterly cold grip (but not yet)

Monday, January 18, 2016, 12:18 PM - Dangerously cold temperatures and a biting wind chill made things feel closer to the -40s across parts of the Prairies this past weekend. The type of weather that makes mostly any outdoor activity unbearable.

While parts of Alberta start to warm to more seasonal values on Monday, the rest of the Prairies will remain in the grips of extreme cold a little while longer.

"The saving grace will be calmer winds," says Weather Network meteorologist Erin Wenckstern. "So although it will still be very cold across parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the wind chill values won't be nearly as extreme as they were this weekend."

Light snow is also expected to track eastward into Manitoba and Saskatchewan on Monday with generally less than 5 cm expected.

All Prairie provinces will return to seasonal (and more tolerable) temperatures by the end of this week. In fact, some places could see daytime highs rise to close to 10°C by Friday.