THUNDER BAY – It looks like Santa Claus will be bringing frigid Arctic air from the North Pole with him when he visits Thunder Bay on Christmas Eve.
The night before Christmas will see the city enveloped by a deep freeze with Environment Canada meteorologist Peter Kimbell saying the forecast calls for the temperature to drop below – 25C.
The cold snap could even approach record breaking territory, he said on Thursday.
“The coldest overnight low we have since 1941 in the Thunder Bay on Christmas Day is – 31.7C and we’re looking for a low near – 30C, so very cold for this time of the year,” Kimbell said.
The seasonal temperatures for Christmas time in Thunder Bay are an average daytime high of – 7C and lows of – 18C, Kimbell added.
The national weather service is calling for temperatures to remain below – 20C on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with nighttime temperatures plummeting to around – 30C each night.
“Minimize the time you spend outdoors, bundle up in layers of course and just common sense precautions in the very cold weather that Ontarians are used to in the end of December,” Kimbell said.
Kimbell cautioned that the cold weather likely isn’t going away anytime soon.
“There’s no real end in sight at this point,” Kimbell said. “We see a deep trough of low pressure over Northwestern Ontario, really parked there for some time. I think we’re into the time of year when we expect cold air to continue for the foreseeable future and for sure into the beginning of January.”
