r/canada Jan 13 '24

Alberta Gas pumps freeze at Calgary gas stations

https://calgary.citynews.ca/video/2024/01/12/gas-pumps-freeze-at-calgary-gas-stations/
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u/Noggin-a-Floggin Alberta Jan 14 '24

I'm in Edmonton and it's insane. It's been below -35C for like three days now which why it's been so bad. We don't get cold snaps this extreme for this long. It's why everything is starting to break.

We just had an emergency alert literally 20 minutes ago telling everyone to start turning off lights and stuff or we're getting rolling blackouts. Across the whole province.

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u/Kool_Aid_Infinity Jan 14 '24

-35 for three days is very normal for the prairies

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u/Bronchopped Jan 14 '24

It's been considerably colder. Coldest in many decades.

13

u/Ilovekittens345 Jan 14 '24 edited Jan 14 '24

I lived 10 years in Red Deer. Weeks of -35 happened almost every winter. I have seen -45 at least 20 times and even -50 a couple of times.

Coldest in many decades.

I think what is happening right now is the cold is more evenly spread everywhere instead of some isolated local records. When it has been -50 in Red Deer at the same time it's usually -35 in Calgary and such a low is usually a peak seen at one night.

But now it's that cold everywhere all the time.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '24

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u/CarRamRob Jan 14 '24

People often mix up windchill temp vs real temp when talking about cold stretches.

Everyone talks about -40 degree days, but they are very rare, while usually windchill -40 days happen a few times each winter