Wind gusts in the Summit neighbourhood damage neighbours roof. Photo Credit: Jan Crerar

By Shane Clausing

118 km/h wind gusts

Meteorologist says Monday windstorm a very unusual event for January

Jan 12, 2021 | 1:24 PM

Some Grande Prairie area residents are busy cleaning up after a quick but damaging windstorm came through through the region late Monday afternoon.

At around 3:00 p.m. on January 11, winds in the Grande Prairie area picked up seemingly out of nowhere, eventually reaching a peak of 95 km/h and wind gusts topping out at 118 km/h at the Grande Prairie Airport.

Data from Environment Canada shows the sudden spike in wind speed at around 3 p.m. Monday, before just as quickly coming back down (Courtesy of Environment Canada)

The 118 km/h wind gust was one of the largest ever recorded in the month of January in the Swan City. The 118km/h gust recorded was just shy of the record gust of 122 km/h recorded back in January of 1972.

Dan Kulak with Environment Canada says yesterday’s storm even caught meteorologists off guard.

“We did not have a warning out on this event at 3:00 p.m., we did have a warning out after the report came in of the wind gust from the Grande Prairie Airport for some of the winds that could be in the area. That warning ended a few hours later as the sun was going down, but this is a really, unusual, wind gust event for the month of January.”

“It does look like it was a strong snow shower that went through the area, the observations at the airport showed some snow right after the wind started. This is almost like a summertime event, where you have a very localized storm that moves through the area and gives you a strong gust of wind and a little bit of precipitation and then it moves off on its way. This is a very impressive wind gust event for the month of January.”

Yesterday’s storm caused some damage in the area. There were reports of trees limbs being broken. The gusts were also strong enough to knock down a street light post in Clairmont along Highway 2 and 84 Avenue, and even lift roof shingles off some homes in the area.

As residents in the area move past the wind storm, Kulak tells EverythingGP cooler and more seasonal temperatures are coming to the region.

Temperatures are expected to drop around minus 20 degrees starting on January 18.