Environment Canada says temperatures in the Northwest should return to normal by the weekend, but a the severe cold is expected to remain in place until then.
“We're looking at a number of areas, Kenora, Sioux Lookout, Fort Frances and Dryden all dipping down in the coming days into the minus thirties for those overnight low temperatures, and some days struggling to get up to about -24 C ,-25 C for the daytime high,” said meteorologist Geoff Coulson.
“But then by the time we do get into the weekend, we're looking at those daytime highs of around -11 C [and] overnight lows around -18 C, which is right around the seasonal average for this time of year.”
Most of the Northwest experienced milder-than-usual average temperatures in January, Coulson said.
“For Kenora, for example, the average temperature for January [was] -11.8 C. The long-term average for January [is] -16 C, so again, milder than normal,” he explained. “Similar stories for Dryden, Sioux Lookout,[and] Fort Frances – all of their average temperatures were above the long-term seasonal average for January.”
Coulson said January temperatures for the past three years have varied from what’s normal in the Northwest, with 2021 and 2023 being warmer than average and January 2022 being notably colder than average in many areas for last year.
He also said there wasn’t as much snow as normally expected in January right across the Northwest.
“In Kenora, [they got] 18 centimetres of snow for January. Long-term average for them [is] 28 centimetres. So again, less than normal and also the less snow than normal for Dyden, Sioux Lookout and Fort Frances.”
