Cold temperatures sweep back into Manitoba

Bringthe thermals back out of the drawer.

Southern Manitobans enjoyed a brief hiatus from the bitter cold that had gripped the province for most of the past two weeks but that's about to change again.

A cold front is expected tosweep through the region, bringing a strong north wind and plummeting temperatures on Wednesday. And Environment Canada says the deep freeze will continue through the weekend andbeyond.

That forecast applies to the entire southern half of the province, from Grand Rapids to the U.S. border.

The strong winds are likely to create poorvisibilityin blowing snow for some areas.

The cold follows a weather system that brought unseasonablymild temperatures to southern Manitoba since Sunday. It also brought a band of freezing rain that ran across themidsection of southern Manitoba, from theMinnedosaand Dauphin area through the southerninterlakeandon tothe Ontario border.

Winnipeggers had enjoyed daytime highs between6 C to10 C since Sunday but temperatures will fall throughout Wednesday to17 C with a wind chill that will make it feel more like29 by the afternoon. Winds willgustup to 70 km/h bynoon.

Daytime highs over the next few days will be in the20C to 24 C range with wind chills of 30 to35.

Further north in the ChurchillYorkTadoule Lake region, Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold warning.

Temperatures around 30Cor colder are expected Wednesday andThursday.

Extreme wind chills of 45 to 50 will arrive Wednesday but a strengthening wind will bring even colder wind chills onThursday.