🔗 Share this article

Northern Canada has been gripped by a bitter and extended period of frigid weather, with readings persisting from 20 to 40 degrees below zero for weeks. On Tuesday, Braeburn in the Yukon recorded -55.7C, representing its most frigid December day in half a century.

Prolonged Freeze of Extreme Cold

In addition, the locales of Mayo and Dawson suffered through sixteen nights in a row colder than minus 40 degrees, with the temperature in Mayo bottoming out at -50.4 degrees Celsius earlier this week. Whitehorse similarly reported 10 nights when the cold dipped under -30 Celsius.

This Arctic air mass pushed further southward through Christmas week. Christmas night saw Edmonton's temperatures plummet below minus 28C.

Boxing Day was expected to bring readings no higher than -20 Celsius across many regions, including Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec.

Expected to Continue For Days to Come

The frigid conditions are predicted to linger through the start of January. Authorities have cautioned about potential power failures in the Yukon in the coming days, as the territory’s power grid comes under strain from historically high electricity consumption.

The prolonged chill has been caused by the polar vortex remaining anchored above Canadian territory through December, enabling a surge of icy Arctic winds to descend. The frigid dome is projected to gradually withdraw north slowly, permitting warmer Pacific winds to flow over America and reach into portions of southern Canada.

Stark Contrast with US Warmth

Conversely, sections of America recorded historically high temperatures for Christmas as the mercury climbed roughly 15 to 30 degrees above typical averages. Across wide regions, the atmosphere was more akin to late spring than late December.

Multiple states established new Christmas temperature highs. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, reached 25 degrees Celsius on Christmas, topping the prior high mark of 22 degrees established over forty years ago. Urban centers like Austin, Dallas, and Charlotte, North Carolina similarly saw thermometers rise past the 25C mark.

Heat-Dome Effect Sustains High Temperatures

Above-average warmth is expected to continue through Boxing Day and the days ahead, with abnormal warmth projected to move across the southeastern US in the coming days.

The warmth has been fuelled by a powerful high-altitude ridge extending from the desert south-west towards the north and east, establishing a classic heat-dome pattern. This setup creates an extensive zone of high atmospheric pressure over a large portion of North America, trapping warm air near the surface. Descending air compresses and adiabatically warms, enabling abnormally high temperatures to develop.