Grande Prairie is in for some significant shifts in temperatures over the first full work week of the year.
According to Environment Canada, temperatures in the Swan City should hold around the minus 20 to minus 25 mark throughout most of the rest of the week, with the lowest forecasted temperature sitting at 29 below the evening of January 2nd.
Despite this, temperatures are on track to warm up in a big way on January 6th and 7th, with highs reaching as high as 4 degrees Celcius.
Brian Proctor, a meteorologist at Environment Canada says after a relatively mild start to the holiday season, Grande Prairie residents are now feeling the cold.
“Over the past few days we’ve really cooled down substantially across Northwest Alberta,” he says. “It’s cold air that has dammed up into the Mackenzie Valley in the Yukon territory spilling southwards and that’s really what’s responsible for the cold air that we’ve got across the community at this point.”
Proctor explains Grande Prairie’s typical maximum temperatures in January are usually around the minus ten mark, while typical overnight lows float around 20 below. He adds that while temperatures should remain somewhat consistent throughout the rest of the week, Grande Prairie could be in for a warm surprise when everyone returns to work.
“Really, we don’t see a lot of change in the pattern as we move into the first full weekend of January in the Grande Prairie area so temperatures are holding,” he says.
“We do see a bit of a change to the pattern potentially for the first full work week of January as you’re all probably hoping for at this point,” he adds. “Right now our temperature forecast for Tuesday is plus two, the forecast for Wednesday is plus four, and overnight lows are really much warmer and much above seasonal through that period as well.”
The meteorologist says the most critical factor in such a stark weather difference is a ridge building up over British Columbia, pushing warm air into the Grande Prairie area, ultimately resulting in springtime-like temperatures in the dead of January.
“That really is indicative of the cold air that’s really present overtop of the prairies at this time, shifting a little bit further to the east,” he says. “I’m hesitant to say it’s going to be quite as fast as what the models are indicating so maybe the upcoming forecast for the next week is a warming trend, and sort of by mid to end week, warmer patterns sort of setting up, but it’s definitely not going to be as cold as it feels this week.”
“It’s a bit of a shock but it’s really related to where the storm track is going to be as opposed to a chinook phenomenon or something like that.”
While Proctor maintains the temperatures might not rise quite as high as expected, Grande Prairie residents can take comfort in knowing a nice warm weather break is on its way to kick off the first full work week of 2025.
