No 'fresh push of Arctic air' but cold weather will continue for B.C., says meteorologist

Weather warnings continue to be in place for most of B.C. thisweekend, as an Arctic air mass hanging over the province is resulting in sub-zero temperatures.

Extreme cold warnings are in place for the north and Interior. Temperatures of 40 C are expected near Prince George, with wind chill expected to make it feel like45 C in the area,and35 C in the southern Interior.

On the South Coast, Environment Canada has maintained an Arctic outflow warningthat has been in place for days, warning of the risk of hypothermia and frostbite due to wind chill making it feel like 20 C in some areas.

Ross Macdonald, an Environment Canada meteorologist, says temperatures are expected to ease slightly on Saturday and Sunday, though still remain cold.

"We aren't getting any kind of fresh push of Arctic air," he said in a Saturday morning interview.

"So, the air mass that's over us will just gradually moderate aswe push through the rest of the weekend and into early next week."

Macdonald says temperatures will tick up a few degrees across the province, and Metro Vancouver will remain below 0 C on Saturday.

The Arctic air hanging over the province is part of a wide swathof winter warnings from coast to coast, with all of Alberta covered by weather warnings Saturday.

Scientists have attributed the plummeting temperatures to a polar vortex, where Arctic air that would normally swirl around the North Pole makes its waysouth, causing freezing conditions.

Anumber of delayswere reported at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) amid the freezing temperatures, with dozens of arrivals and a number of departures impacted as of 11 a.m. PT Saturday.

CBC News has reached out to YVR for comment. In an earlier statement, a spokesperson said the airport authority would continue to monitor the weather this weekend.

WATCH | Vancouver ponds freeze over:

Vancouverites skate on newly frozen lakes, ponds

7 months ago

Duration 1:20

Vancouverites took to local parks and even demolition sites to skate around frozen bodies of water. However, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation says it does not recommend skating on any local ponds or lakes at this time.

In Vancouver, some people were seen ice skating on frozen ponds in multiple parks Saturday, including Trout Lake Park in East Vancouver.

At Vanier Park near False Creek, dozens were skating and playing a game of shinny,or pickup hockey.

"It's like a winter dream come true," said Nick Sedlar, hockey stick in hand. "Today the ice was like glass, it was incredible."

In a statement to CBC, the City of Vancouver says it does not recommend ice skating on any ponds or lakes at this time.

More snow on the horizon

A number of weather records were brokenFriday due to the plummeting temperatures, with areas including Victoria, Kamloops, and Burns Lake in the north seeing new record low temperatures for Jan. 12.

According to Environment Canada,the weather station at the University of Victoria recorded a minimum temperature of 11.6 C, the station at Kamloops recorded26.6 C, and Burns Lake Airport a frosty 40.5 C.

Macdonald says Abbotsford's minimum temperature was 15.4 C on Friday, with the previous record being 12 C for that date.

"It's not climbing very warm during the day as well, and there's a lot of widespread recordsfor lowest maximum temperatures," he said. "We'll likely see, you know more more of those daily temperature records [Saturday]."

He adds thatan incoming weather system will likely bring snowfall to the South Coast on Tuesday night.

"Just how much [the snowfall] is, we'll have to see how it goes here," he said.

"It's still, I would say, too early to tell, but I would say people should be prepared for some snow coming in late Tuesday, Tuesday night and into early Wednesday."

Sudden snowfall on Thursdaybrought Metro Vancouver traffic to a grinding halt, with buses spun out and people having to push cars up hills.

"For folks heading outside, you know, certainly dress in layers, bundle up, maybe limit your time outside certainly with these cold temperatures," Macdonald said.