All-time January warmth building over Prairies this week
Some communities are on the cusp of recording their warmest temperatures ever seen during the month of January
All-time January temperature records are in jeopardy across the Prairies this week.
Under normal circumstances, temperature records on the Prairies in January might prompt warnings of frostbite and hypothermia.
But the pattern building over the region this weekend will allow temperatures to climb toward levels of warmth some communities have never measured during the first month of the year.
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A ridge dominates the final days of January
The abnormal warmth building over the Prairies will arrive courtesy of the same pattern responsible for drenching rains in British Columbia. We’ll see a formidable ridge building over the middle of the country this week.
Mild air flowing in from the Pacific, combined with sinking air beneath the ridge itself, will work together to send temperatures far above seasonal from Winnipeg to Edmonton and even deep into the territories up north.
Readings will come in as much as 18 degrees above seasonal for many spots, especially on the northern Prairies and into the territories. Yellowknife’s high on Tuesday could come very close to breaking the all-time January record of 3.4°C measured on Jan. 3, 1985.
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Monday will see plenty of abnormal warmth across the region, but Tuesday looks to take the cake as downsloping winds race off the Rockies.
These winds will warm up and accelerate as they reach lower elevations, bringing the risk for gusts of nearly 100 km/h in the Alberta foothills, and widespread gusts around 50 km/h all the way into Saskatchewan.
Warm winds will help Alberta’s temperatures climb a bit higher on Tuesday, with a comfortable 8°C in the forecast for Calgary and an impressive 10°C on the board for Edmonton.
Folks in Edmonton will want to watch the decimal point on Tuesday as it is expected to reach 11°C, which would easily be the warmest January day on record for Edmonton International Airport in Leduc. The previous record there was 9.9°C set on Jan. 25, 2006.
The warmest temperature for the city dates back to the 19th century, when the temperature climbed to 13.9°C on Jan. 27, 1889.
We may see the warmest temperatures pop up in southern Saskatchewan on Tuesday. Some models even boldly suggest temperatures could hit the upper teens in spots, which is about 25 degrees above seasonal.
Tuesday’s forecast high in Swift Current could easily secure its place as the warmest January temperature on record. The current record is more than a century old—a 15°C reading back on Jan. 19, 1900.
A more active pattern is likely to develop across the Prairies for the opening days of February.
Header image submitted by a viewer in Dodsland, Saskatchewan.
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