Extreme cold warnings issued for Kamloops, Shuswap, Similkameen

Cold air and moderate winds will bring wind chills of -35 Celsius or colder tonight, Dec. 28, through to Wednesday morning for many areas in the region.

An extreme cold warning was issued by Environment Canada this morning. It covers the North and South Thompson, Nicola, Similkameen, Shuswap, Fraser Canyon, Kinbasket, East and North Columbia regions.

Temperatures should rise Wednesday afternoon but wind chills of -35 C or lower are possible again Friday morning.

READ MORE: Lytton is 74 degrees colder today from its high earlier this year, but that’s no record

“Watch for cold related symptoms: shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes,” the warning says. “Cover up. Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill. If it’s too cold for you to stay outside, it’s too cold for your pet to stay outside.”

For the latest weather warnings and watches go to Environment Canada's web page here.

For the latest road conditions, check out Drive B.C. here.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics

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