Western Canada already in winter's grip

Tuesday, November 11, 2014, 9:23 AM - It's a dubious honour, but: Red Deer, Alberta, briefly held a rather dubious crown.

"A particular shout-out to Red Deer, which wins the award for 'most ridiculous' overnight temperatures and wind chill," Weather Network meteorologist Brett Soderholm said early Monday morning. "Minus 23^oC, feeling like -32 with the wind."

That's where matters stood in the early morning hours, and no one expected - or, more accurately, no one hoped - to see any colder. 

Then more numbers came in at 7:30 a.m. local time, and as horridly cold as Red Deer was, Hendrickson Creek, Alta., was almost 10 degrees colder, with a core temperature of -32.5oC, according to Weather Network meteorologist Brian Dillon, certainly feeling colder with the wind.

That wouldn't be out of the question in January or February, but it's still only mid-November - more than a month away from the "official" start of winter - and the Prairies are in the grip of easily the coldest air in the country.

Red Deer's example may be extreme, but most Prairie cities, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, weren't much warmer Monday night, and Tuesday isn't looking much better.

"Temperatures this morning in southern Alberta will be in the negative 20s, with wind chills making it feel closer to the negative 30s," Soderholm says.

Those cold temperatures will continue through to the end of this week, Soderholm says, but the good news is there won't be much in the way of snow.

Scattered flurries are possible here and there, as well as lake-effect snow showers in Manitoba's Interlakes region on Wednesday, with amounts ranging from 2-5 cm.

In British Columbia, meanwhile, the south won't be remotely that cold, but it will still be noticeably below zero.

"Vancouver will be dropping below freezing overnight, -1^oC feeling like -5," Soderholm says. "There will be fair conditions in general across the province, although below-seasonal temperatures are expected to persist until the end of the work-week."

Beware of strong winds, especially across the Georgia Strait, making for rough seas and difficult ferry crossings.