I had a request asking about the status of the freeze up on the Manitoba lakes. The image posted here is a MODIS satellite photo taken Monday afternoon Nov 17th showing the latest ice conditions on our lakes. Dark blue areas are open water, still evident over much of Lake Winnipeg (right) while light blue (turquoise) areas are snow covered and/or ice areas. Grey/white areas are clouds (notice the impressive lake-effect clouds off the lakes) while beige areas are bare ground and green areas are forested. The image shows that much of Lake Winnipegosis is ice covered, except for an open area in the far north, while Lake Manitoba appears to have thin ice forming over much of the basin. I suspect Lake Manitoba will be frozen over by this weekend given the upcoming cold weather.These high resolution satellite images over Manitoba are available at the MODIS remote sensing website. You can monitor the progress of the lake freeze up with daily updates on this site.
Thank you very much for the info and the link Rob!!! Really nice image by the way. So, cold temperatures waiting in the short term, but sunny weather at least, that's something!
ReplyDeleteGet ready for a cold night tonight in Winnipeg and the Red River valley. Arctic ridge will be right over us by morning, giving us clear skies and light winds. Plenty of -20C temperatures in the ridgeline this morning, with Swan River down to -23C this morning. We get a very light southerly flow by morning so that should prevent the airport site from bottoming out to -25C.. but our first -20 night of the season is likely tonight.
ReplyDeleteGimli webcam showing a lot of ice forming off the Lake Winnipeg shoreline.. It was nothing but open water just a couple of days ago. Likewise, ice starting to form on the Red River. Things are freezing up quickly now..
ReplyDeleteBarometer reading peaked at 1046.7 mb at my site today.. highest pressure reading of the year.
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm really amazed to see how quickly the temperature can change in those lands... You almost hit +20C 2 or 3 weeks ago and now you're going to fall below -20C... now, that's a temperature drop! I've been able to see the quick freezing of Lake Winnipeg in the Gimli webcam since you told me to keep an eye on it just 2 days ago!!! Thanks Rob!
ReplyDeleteRecord high pressure here as well 1045.4 mb at 10:30a.m.
ReplyDeleteWould a really windy day prevent ice from forming, even if it was well below zero (like today)?
Strong winds would likely delay freezing due to wave action and thermal mixing. But eventually it will still freeze over given enough cold weather. It always amazes me that even river rapids can freeze over if it's cold enough.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, looks like the south basin of Lake Winnipeg right up through the narrows is pretty much ice covered now. Amazing how quickly it happened. On Monday, it was wide open. Just 5 days for such a large body of water to freeze over.
EC forecast low of -18 C appears exaggerated. SE flow will continue and 850 MB temps recover by dawn tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteTemperatures may actually climb by dawn Sunday with a westerly flow behind a trough line/ cool front. Often times the warmest temperatures are recorded just as the trough passes with the WNW flow yielding better mixing than the southerly flow ahead of it. In any case.. looks like a pleasant WNW flow will set up thru the day with significant cold air advection hopefully lagging well behind. Can we reach zero? If we can get a good burst of mixing as the trough passes.. the sun should be enough to keep us at a steady 0/1 C. Here's hoping anyways ^^
Daniel..
ReplyDeleteI agree a low of -18C is unlikely for Winnipeg tonight. Our temperature is holding steady this evening with that southeast flow which is 1) off an area with little snow cover and 2) a flow off the city for the airport site. Maybe a low of -14 by morning if the winds drop off. Looking forward to that freezing mark by Sunday!