Thursday, March 06, 2008

Another -30 morning

With a low of -32 at Winnipeg airport this morning, this marked the 21st time this winter the airport has recorded a low of -30 or lower. There were 3 occurrences in Dec, 10 in Jan, and 7 in Feb.  

As for -30 temperatures in March, it does occur from time to time. Last year we hit -30.8C on March 5th, virtually a year ago to the day.  And back in 2003, 6 of the first 8 days in March registered lows of -30 or lower. At Winnipeg airport, the latest -30 reading in March was March 24, 1974 (-31.7) while the latest -30 reading ever in Winnipeg was on March 30, 1882 (-31.1) 

That being said, it looks like we'll see another -30 night tonight although we get a bit of a southerly wind overnight which may prevent the airport from bottoming out as cold as last night. Then that should be the last of the -30 weather, dare I say for the season?!  We have a nice warming trend over the weekend into next week, with temperatures near freezing next week. Hopefully, this upcoming mild weather lasts for awhile, but I'm concerned that we'll fall back into the same pattern of the past few weeks with a return to below normal temperatures by the end of next week. Hopefully, that doesn't pan out.

Note the record high for Winnipeg today.. 16.5C in 2000. That's what can happen here in early March when there's no snow on the ground!  That year we lost our snowcover by the end of February, leading to some exceptionally mild weather early in March. 





4 comments:

  1. It is too bad that that nice warm spell had to end so soon, but there is light at the end of the tunnel (as Rob has said).

    By Saturday a strong Southerly flow will set in preparing us for the much needed warm spell of the coming week. By Sunday it looks like many regions of Southern Manitoba will reach 0, and by Monday almost every part of Southern Manitoba will be at or above 0. The week should be much of the same and lets hope that nasty arctic air Rob warned us about will just disappear!

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  2. Looks like it will stay well above -30 C at YWG with a southwest flow already developing. Once again, only a modest fetch off the city produces dramatic effects preventing cold air movement. Who would ever think one of the flattest places on earth would have to worry about cold air drainage...amazing!

    Anyways ...I sincerely hope this is the last round of exhaust fog and water main breaks we have to endure for a long time ...even if it is only wishful thinking.

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  3. That light southerly flow saved the airport from hitting -30.. but not me, or most areas on the edge or outside the city. Even a few -35 readings this morning in Dugald, Morris, and Daniel's place outside Bird's Hill.

    I'm cautiously optimistic that's the last -30 weather we'll see this season. Looking forward to those +1C highs next week!

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  4. Rob...

    I do not live by bird's hill, not sure if his name is also Daniel?

    It is not surprising that places east of Winnipeg in the vicinity of sandy ridges (lower heat capacity and lesser thermal conductivity) get colder than areas in the red river valley. Cold air seems to drain off those ridges and settle into lower lying areas.

    This effect is apparent all thru out SE Manitoba especially at Sprague, Steinbach etc. But the -35 C at Morris seemed unbelievable!

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