-40.4 C: No April Fools' joke. This province set a cold record on April 1
No April Fools' Day joke: A record-breaking cold temperature kicked off April in the eastern half of the country, with the Canadian chill spot bottoming out at -40.4 C.
A bitterly cold reading of -40.4 C was recorded during the early-morning hours of April 1, breaking a provincial record that stood for 32 years.
The residents of Schefferville, Que., may have thought Mother Nature was playing an April Fools' Day joke on them Wednesday morning when the mercury plummeted to -40.4 C, an all-time record for the month of April in the province of Quebec.
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The previous record was set in Bonnard, Que., near Lake Manouane (Lac Manouane), on April 2, 1994.
Cold across Northern Canada
The entire northern part of the country has been gripped by the cold since the beginning of March.
In Yellowknife, N.W.T., March was 7.7 C colder than average. Such a difference over an entire month is very uncommon. The same discrepancy was observed in Kuujjuarapik, Que., with Kuujjuaq, Que., not far behind. Both communities experienced temperatures 7 C colder than the seasonal average.
Other parts of Quebec were not spared, with Sept-Îles, Que., recording temperatures 4 C colder than normal.
While the persistent cold relaxes this weekend, April’s outlook shows the potential for more cold shots through the month.
With files from Benoit Chartier and Nicolas Lessard, meteorologists at MétéoMédia.
This article was translated to English from MétéoMédia, The Weather Network’s Quebec-based sister station.