Frigid temperatures continue Saturday morning

Haligonians are waking up Saturday to potentially record breaking wind chill factors.

On Friday, Environment and Climate Change Canada's Bob Robichaud told CityNews Halifax, because windchill is a calculated value — it's not measured with equipment — official records aren't kept, but the lowest windchill he was aware of for the Halifax area came in 1967 when it was minus 41.1 at the airport.

As of 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the windchill is -42 and an extreme cold warning remains in effect.

Frostnip, frostbite and hypothermia are all risks in these conditions, and the elderly, very young children, and those with pre-existing conditions, chronic disease or persons with diseases of the blood circulation system are at higher risk of being affected by the cold weather.

“Watch for cold related symptoms: shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes,” the warning said. “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.”

If you're heading outside, cover as much skin as possible with plenty of protective layers.

And if you're driving somewhere, Halifax Regional Municipality says use caution.

“Slow down and leave space between you and other vehicles,” HRM tweeted. “Road salt is ineffective for temperatures lower than -10 degrees Celsius.”

Environment Canada says northwest winds have the potential to reach gusts of up to 70 km/h today.

As of 8 a.m. high winds have caused some power outages in HRM, including in the Black Point area, from Tantallon down to Peggys Cove, in the East Chezzetcook area and the East Petpeswick area. Outages are impacting almost 20,000 Nova Scotia Power customers across the province.

Conditions are expected to slightly improve as temperatures rise to a forecast high of -14, but windchill factors are still expected to be in the -20s.

Sunday's high is 2 degrees with a few flurries or rain showers in the afternoon.