Weather ready to make a U-turn from frigid to downright balmy

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on February 19, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Tired of winter yet? Well, you won’t have to wait long for the weather to take a 180-degree turn.
After a late start, winter will take a break in coming days as southern Alberta emerges from the deep freeze to temperatures that will be downright balmy.
The extreme cold that had Lethbridge experiencing a temperature of -28C by mid Tuesday morning is expected by Environment Canada to start moderating by mid-afternoon today. Similar cold was being felt throughout southern Alberta and south to Great Falls.
But while southern Albertans may have felt chilly Tuesday morning, the cold spot in Canada was Last Mountain, Sask. which had a daytime temperature of -38.7C. Canada’s hot spot, in contrast, was Kindakun Rocks, B.C. with a temperature of 8.
The coldest spot in Alberta on Tuesday was Fleer at -38.7 while the warmest — if you can call it that — was Hendrickson at -12.2.
Two places held the title as Alberta’s coldest spot Monday with Coronation and Esther both reporting temperatures of -36.1 while Jasper was the warmest at a tolerable -3.3.
Normals for this time of year in Lethbridge from 1991 to 2020, according to the federal government, are highs of 1.7 and lows of -11C. The daily average temperature is -4.6.
Although wind chill values last night were expected to make the overnight low of -26 feel more like -35, a break is coming with a high of -9 expected today while the night-time low is only expected to be -14.
A rapid change will come as the week progresses with a high of 3 on Thursday and 13 on Sunday. That’s plus 13 by the way. And the temperatures that had southern Albertans plugging in their block heaters at night will quickly disappear as lows rise to as high as 7 by Sunday.
The warm spell is predicted to continue as the month progresses, dropping only when March approaches.

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