Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Cold morning.. Potential snowfall looms for weekend

Spring has yet to arrive in Southern MB despite it's official start last week. Temperatures this morning across Southern MB were well below normal, with readings of -15 to -20C across much of the area. The coldest temperature was a -25C reading at Wasagaming in Riding Mtn National Park. Despite the cold readings, no record low temperatures were set across MB this morning, as record lows for today are still around the -30C mark (yes, it has been worse!)

Cold weather will dominate over the next couple of days before temperatures moderate by the end of the week.  However models are indicating the potential for 5-10 cm of snow across southern MB Saturday into Saturday night as a fairly vigorous storm system tracks out of Montana into southern SK and then into the MB interlake. Given this track, the heaviest snow would likely stay north and west of Winnipeg, however there could be a band of heavy snow accompanying the system as it moves across southern MB late Saturday along with gusty southerly winds.  Hopefully this system behaves like most weather systems this year, and the bulk of the snow misses Winnipeg and the Red River valley.  I'm tired of winter.. I don't want any more snow!        

2 comments:

  1. Nice little convective impulse giving some locally heavy snow along the MB/SK border this afternoon.. with reports of 15-20 cm from Esterhazy SK to Russell MB. Strong returns on radar suggesting very heavy snowfall rates of 2-4 cm/hr within this band giving near zero vsbys at times. Area of pcpn moving slowly east, but weakening by the time it reaches Red River valley.

    For Saturday.. models still suggesting a period of heavy snow through the Red River valley including Winnipeg late Saturday into Saturday night with a burst of 5-10 cm of heavy snow within 6 hours or so. Even heavier amounts of 10-20 cm possible north and west of Winnipeg through the Dauphin/Riding Mtn areas.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Winter Storm Watch for Southern Manitoba! Environment Canada is predicting 20 to 25cm of snow for most regions (10 to 15cm Saturday and 10cm Sunday)

    This could easily be the biggest snowstorm of the year, with strong winds and heavy snow. Hopefully the flooding risk won't go up too much.

    ReplyDelete