Temperature records polar opposite of last year

For the past two years, temperature records have been broken on November 9. Unfortunately, they were two different records.

A ridge of high pressure just went through the prairies, bringing mainly clear skies and very cold temperatures. Cold enough to set a new record low.

On Thursday, November 9, a temperature of -23.7° was recorded at the Winnipeg International Airport, breaking the previous record of -20.6°, which was set both in 1933 and 1966. That temperature does not include the windchill, which was hovering in the -30° range.

According to Bryan VanWilgenburg from Environment Canada, we also set a temperature record last year on November 9. It was a bit of a different feel though.

"Last year on November 9 it was 19° which was record setting," VanWilgenburg said. "[November 10] a year ago there was a high of 13°."

The good news, VanWilgenburg says, is we should have a break from the cold over the next few days.

"It's going to warm up, not a huge amount, but maybe up to seasonal, at the beginning of next week," he said.

Snow is in the forecast today along with some heavy winds, but VanWilgenburg doesn't expect the conditions outside to be too bad. He says it can be hard to create whiteout conditions with only 2-4 centimetres of snow falling.

As for next Tuesday, which is showing a temperature of +4°, VanWilgenburg says that's a legitimate temperature and Environment Canada isn't just trying to give us hope.

"We don't play too much with the long range temperatures," he laughed. "It does look like a distinct possibility.

"There is a chance, let's hope."

A number of records were set in Manitoba on November 9, including: