Īgain on the same day, the daily high in downtown Victoria was at −0.9 ☌ (30.4 ☏), the first time the daily high was below freezing since January 2017. On the same day, the temperature in Abbotsford dropped to −9 ☌ (16 ☏) with a wind chill of −20 ☌ (−4 ☏). On February 4, the temperature in Richmond dropped to −5.6 ☌ (21.9 ☏) with a wind chill of −11 ☌ (12 ☏). Temperatures dropped to −38.0 ☌ (−36.4 ☏) in Medicine Hat, only 0.9 away from the March record low. Įxtreme cold carried into March, with temperatures hitting −31.2 ☌ (−24.2 ☏) in Calgary on the second, and −38.6 ☌ (−37.5 ☏) in Lethbridge, the coldest March temperature ever recorded in the city. On February 5, Edmonton recorded a temperature of −32.3 ☌ (−26.1 ☏) and a wind chill of −37 ☌ (−35 ☏), as a result of the "polar vortex" making its way west. The coldest was actually −41 ☌ (−42 ☏) that was located in Red Deer. On February 3, Calgary recorded a temperature of −27.7 ☌ (−17.9 ☏) and a wind chill of −39 ☌ (−38 ☏). This gave prairie Canada and northern Ontario a persistent northern flow, leading to record cold temperatures. The "polar vortex" split into three parts, with the dominant part setting up over the Great Lakes and Nunavut. Īround 2,700 flights were canceled on January 30, with 2,000 canceled the next day.
Impact Īt least 22 deaths in North America have been directly attributed to the cold wave, with several of these people frozen to death ( hypothermia).
Some have attributed the unusual weather pattern to climate change. Large amounts of snow fell in the affected area. The influx of frigid air from the North Pole created high winds, and brought extreme sub-zero temperatures, further exacerbated by severe wind chill. In late January 2019, one of these lobes traveled southward and stalled over central Canada and north-central United States for about a week before the upper-level flow of the atmosphere directed it over to Western Canada. From late December to early January, a sudden stratospheric warming event was observed over the Arctic, which caused the "polar vortex" to weaken and split into three lobes. Normally, the Northern Hemisphere jet stream travels fast enough to keep the concentration of Arctic air known as the " polar vortex" stationary in the stratosphere over the North Pole. The polar vortex as captured by the Atmospheric infrared sounder In mid-March, the cold wave finally retreated, but combined with above-average temperatures, precipitation, and a deep snowpack, widespread flooding ensued in the Central US. In early March, the cold once again shifted east, breaking records in many areas. As a result, February 2019 was among the coldest and snowiest on record in these regions. In early February, a concentration of Arctic air colloquially referred to as the "polar vortex" moved west, and became locked over Western Canada and the Western United States. It came after a winter storm brought up to 13 inches (33 cm) of snow in some regions from January 27–29, and brought the coldest temperatures in over 20 years to most locations in the affected region, including some all-time record lows. In late January 2019, a severe cold wave caused by a weakened jet stream around the Arctic polar vortex hit the Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada, killing at least 22 people. Part of the 2018–19 North American winter
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