If you were looking for a reason to stay home this weekend, it’s the weather.
High wind gusts and very cold wind chills of between -30 and -37 are expected on Saturday and Sunday in New Brunswick.
“This is the same air mass that is extending from the Prairies, across Ontario, parts of Quebec and then into New Brunswick and also even into Labrador and Newfoundland,” Environment Canada Meteorologist Jill Maepea told our newsroom.
Planning to head outside? A reminder from Environment Canada, with these cold wind chills, there is a higher risk of hypothermia and frostbite.
“If you get into those -35 wind chills, you see a high risk of frostbite exposure in less than 30 minutes. Anything below -40 can get down to 10 minutes if you have exposed skin,” Maepea explained.
Temperatures are expected to moderate on Monday
Maepea stressed not to expect a major warmup next week. She says January is usually the coldest month of the year, and we usually experience the coldest temperatures in the third week.
Once the cold alerts are lifted and the temperatures rise slightly on Monday, you’ll need to get the snow shovels ready. Environment Canada is monitoring another storm system that is expected to bring snow to New Brunswick on Monday.
“It looks like it could definitely bring accumulating snow to Southern areas of the province, including Moncton, Saint John, and Fredericton. This system is kind of a battle between the cold air and the approaching system. If it does arrive, it will be all snow, and it’ll be very fluffy. 24 hours of light to moderate snow as opposed to a big burst of snow and a few hours with a large dumping of snow,” Maepea said.
