It hasn't just been cold in the area; it has been historically cold!
Temperatures around Fort Saskatchewan have hovered around the mid-to-high -30 C range the last few days, with windchill numbers even breaching the -40 C threshold.
Environment Canada is reporting that Elk Island reached its coldest-ever base temperature on Wednesday (Dec. 21) morning clocking in at a frigid -40.4 C.
The previous record of -37 C was recorded in 1987.
Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor says this cold-weather system has been quite intense.
"It's a very cold air mass that has come down out of the Yukon territory," said Proctor. "It's sort of plunged down mainly across Alberta and British Columbia."
The coldest wind chill value in the area was recorded at the Edmonton International Airport at -46 C at 10 a.m. on Tuesday (Dec. 20).
It's expected that some windchills on Wednesday (Dec. 21) could be even colder than that.
Things will start to warmup ahead of Christmas weekend.