Extreme wind chills of –40 and colder continue in parts of Manitoba

An Arctic air mass over parts of southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba continues to bring extremely cold temperatures and warnings.

Overnight lows of –30 C and colder combined with northerly winds of 10-15 km/h are producing extreme wind chill values of –40 and colder, Environment Canada says.

In Manitoba, the weather agency has issued extreme cold warnings for a swath of the northwest corner, where the wind chill could drop to –45, as well as a large chunk of the south and most of the west.

Due to the cold, the Brandon School Division is not operating buses outside city limits on Thursday. Schools are open but attendance is at parental discretion where travel is required.

The Franco-Manitoban School Division has also cancelled bus service for two of its schools: École La Source (Shilo) and École Notre-Dame de Lourdes. Both schools are open, however.

Temperatures will begin to moderate in Saskatchewan on Thursday afternoon and the extreme cold will end, but the extreme cold is likely to linger in Manitoba into Friday morning, Environment Canada says.

Thursday's high in southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, is expected to only reach –25 C with a wind chill value around –33.

The low is expected to dip to –33 C with a wind chill of –43 in the evening and –38 overnight.

Normal temperatures for this time of year are a daily high of –10 C with an overnight low of –19 C. Those temperatures are forecast to return by the weekend, with even warmer days possible to start the week.