Extreme Cold Weather Warning Raised for Calgary, Cochrane Area – Calgary | The Canadian News

It may be short-lived, but Calgary is out of the freeze for now.

Environment Canada lifted the extreme cold warning for the city and county of Rocky View near Cochrane on Wednesday afternoon.

Temperatures will warm over the next few days, but the cold is expected to return later next week.

Most of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, along with parts of Manitoba and Ontario, have been under extreme cold warnings with freezing winds dropping to -50 C in some areas for several days.

Environment Canada says the icy Arctic air mass enveloping southern Saskatchewan will not abate until the end of the week.

The weather agency says that most of Alberta will see extreme cold conditions with wind chill between -40 C and -45 C.

It says wind chill temperatures in Vancouver will be near or below -20 C as Arctic winds blow through the region.

Environment Canada says the wind chill in Vancouver will moderate through the day on Wednesday as temperatures rise.

BC Hydro said extremely low temperatures in many parts of the province led to a new record for peak electricity demand on Monday between 5 and 6 p.m.

“Most of the increase is likely due to the need for additional heating in the home during this cold snap,” spokeswoman Simi Heer said in a press release.

Heer said electricity demand hit an all-time high of 10,902 megawatts, which is higher than the previous record of 10,577 megawatts last year.

He said the record represents a single moment in time when electricity demand was highest.

The Alberta Electric System Operator, which manages the provincial power grid, declared an energy emergency alert Monday night, which it explained in a social media post was due to extreme weather that was affecting some generating facilities.

With files from The Canadian Press