Bouncing temperatures this week as Arctic air centres over northern Quebec

A pedestrian tries to shield herself from heavy wind and rain in Halifax on Friday, December 23, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

Over that last two weeks an outbreak of Arctic air has been making its way across the country.

The frigid air triggered extreme cold warnings much of last week in British Columbia and the Prairies. The combination of cold and moisture off the Pacific resulted in a significant snowfall for the south coast of British Columbia, including the City of Vancouver.

This week finds Arctic air moving to a position over northern Quebec and Labrador. That has resulted in extreme cold warnings being issued for those areas with expected wind chills making it feel -40 or colder Monday night into Wednesday morning.

A cold front coming across the Maritimes on Tuesday will put our region over into a gusty northwest wind. That northwest wind will tap into that Arctic air, bringing a snap of colder January conditions to the Maritimes Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

That snap of colder than normal air will be relatively short lived. A returning southwest wind will moderate temperatures enough into Thursday that a low pressure system moving through that day looks mostly like a mix of snow and rain for the Maritimes.

Following that, temperatures continue, very moderately for January, into the upcoming weekend with daytime highs ranging near to just above freezing and overnight lows at or just below freezing.

The next significant fall in temperatures will arrive Sunday night into Monday morning with polar air breaking down into the Maritimes once again.