SUNDRE – Cold temperatures broke records across the province Saturday.
In a weather summary issued Sunday, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Environment Canada) noted the Sundre area recorded a new, record-low temperature for Feb. 15.
The temperature dropped to -32.8 degrees Celsius (C) Saturday at the Sundre Airport. The previous record for the day of -31.6 C was set in 2018.
Area weather records have been kept since 1993.
Environment Canada issued an extreme cold warning Saturday for the area along with much of the province. It continued into Sunday.
An extreme cold warning is Issued when the temperature or wind chill is expected to reach – 40 C for at least two hours.
The Sundre area was one of four areas in Alberta that Environment Canada noted in the Feb. 16 summary to have broken previous low temperature records for Feb. 15.
The following other Alberta areas set a daily minimum temperature record on Saturday, Feb. 15:
• Bow Island area – New record of -31.4 C. Old record of – 26.1 C set in 1973. Records in this area have been kept since 1961.
• High Level area – New record of -42.7 C. Old record of – 41.6 C set in 1979. Records in this area have been kept since 1962.
• Red Earth Creek area - New record of -38.3 C. Old record of – 33.8 C set in 1995. Records in this area have been kept since 1994.
The federal agency notes that these temperature records have been derived from a selection of historical stations in each geographic area that were active during the period of record.
