Published on January 16, 2025 at 5:02 p.m.
Winter will show two sides of its personality during the same weekend. A good bout of wet snow on Saturday, and a polar cold on Sunday. Forecast.
Below -30°
Quebec will be plunged into the cold from the end of the weekend. Maximums of -20° and possible minimums of -25° are expected even in Montreal. In Val-d’Or, the minimum should drop below -30° for two consecutive nights. We are talking about feelings approaching -40 in certain sectors. But Quebec will not be the only territory to freeze.
AMAZING: Camera captures meteorite hitting their entrance
-5°C in Mexico
The vortex will plunge almost all of North America into a natural freeze. Some examples are striking. In Amarillo, Texas, the minimum is expected to be -13°C overnight Monday through Tuesday. Frost will make its way to Mexico. In La Chulita, in the province of Coahuila, the mercury will go into an unexplored zone, below freezing. The forecast minimum is -5°C Monday morning. Meanwhile, much of Alaska will be avoided by the vortex. In Anchorage, for example, a maximum of 2°C is expected on Sunday, and a minimum of 0°C.
Inadequate infrastructure
In many of these places, not only are people not prepared to face this kind of cold, but homes are not adapted to it. Insulation or heating is often either absent or insufficient to counteract frost. It is therefore very possible that water pipes may be damaged. Power outages are also expected since the electricity network will probably be overloaded. Slightly improvised means of supplementary heating could represent a fire or asphyxiation hazard if they are not used properly.
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Hypothermia and frostbite
Last year, for example, an NFL football playoff game was held in Kansas City, Missouri on January 13, in a temperature of -20°C, with a feeling of -30. At the end of the meeting, the mercury read -24°C. Emergency services treated 69 people for hypothermia or frostbite. Fifteen spectators had to be hospitalized.
Surviving the cold: the 3 stages of hypothermia
With the collaboration of Nicolas Lessard, meteorologist.
Canada