Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Record mild day over parts of southern MB.. more records likely Thursday..

It was a mild day over southern Manitoba today with plenty of sunshine and a southwest flow tapping a mild Pacific airmass spreading across the Prairies. Temperatures rose to the 7C mark in Winnipeg, even with a coating of snow on the ground, while temperatures soared into the double digits over the snowfree southern Red River valley. Gretna at 12.4C set a new record for November 23rd, beating the previous record high of 7.2C in 1962. Pinawa (6.5C), Gimli (7.6C) and Fisher Branch (8.6C) also set new record highs today. Further south Grand Forks soared to a record 14.4C. More records are likely Thursday over southern MB as the mild airmass remains over the area, with highs of 7-10C over the northern RRV, and 10-13C over the south. For Winnipeg, a high of +8C is forecast Thursday, which would be a record high for November 24th (currently 7.2C set in 1907)

Cooler but above normal weather is forecast for Friday, before a system brings some snow to southern MB Friday night into Saturday with a few cm possible.

UPDATE: (Thu Nov 24th) Winnipeg Airport hit 9.7C this afternoon.. easily beating the previous record high of 7.2C for the day. Even milder readings were found over the western Red River valley including Portage, Carman, Morden and Gretna at 12C. At least 7 record highs were set across southern MB this afternoon. MB hot spot was Cypress River at 12.5C. Note that Winnipeg's latest double digit temperature was an 11.7C reading on Dec 6 1939.

15 comments:

  1. Just noticing a "blob" in SW MB at 9:10PM Cud that be convective activity?!

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  2. No, that was some strange AP (false echoes) showing up on Foxwarren radar likely due to an inversion and some trapped low level moisture. Odd that it appeared and disappeared so quickly.. but definitely wasn't real.. nothing on Minot radar or sfc obs.

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  3. You think the cloud shield is a little to thick to get record breaking temps today??? It will be a close one???

    I see Portage got that BALMY SW breeze last night again....

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  4. I checked our record keeping looks like we could break a record set back in 1956 at 6.9c one more degree away as the current temperature is 5C. well hit 9C today, and itll be one winnipeg will remember.

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  5. aim for 10C while we have the chance! :)

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  6. Is that going to be an inverted trough setting up tommorrow night into saturday?

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  7. Yes, as the main low intensifies over Minnesota Saturday, an inverted trof will be hanging back through southeast MB into the MB lakes with an area of snow associated with it. Latest guidance is suggesting the bulk of the snow will fall mainly east of the RRV getting heavier towards the Ontario border, but still 2-5 cm possible for Winnipeg Friday night into Saturday.. with 5-10 cm possible towards the Ontario border/LOTW area.

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  8. Winds will also pick up on Saturday with a push of colder air. I was really impressed on how we totally smashed that record today even with filtered sunshine.

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  9. What will the winds be like tomorrow morning? Hoping to put some grass seed down tomorrow morning in some areas where the snow has all melted. Could be the last chance for an early spring seeding

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  10. Please tell me your kidding on the grass seed.

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  11. No not at all. I wanted to do it this afternoon but the ground was too soft and muddy. With the freeze tonight the ground should stiffen and then put the seed down in the morning. Hopefully the temps will go back to zero or a bit more to allow good soil contact with the seed. Then should freeze into place keeping the seed from blowing away. Next spring as soon as it warms with good mositure in the soil the seed germinates and good to go. Generally you would seed in late October but wasn't able to so maybe tomorrow.

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  12. Daryl.. Winds will be nice and light all day tomorrow.. so grass seed won't be going anywhere. Then a nice 5 cm coating of snow Friday night into Saturday to cover it all up!

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  13. Hi Rob,

    Any thoughts on amount of snow? Environment Canada says 5 cm yet Weather Network says 1-3.

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  14. I'm thinking that a general 5 cm or so (give or take a couple cm) still looks like a good estimate for Winnipeg/RRV. Ensembles show a tight QPF cluster in the 3-6 mm range for Winnipeg tonight into Saturday and models have been fairly consistent for a few runs now around that 5 cm mark. 1-3 cm seems a bit on the low side, especially considering that inverted trofs often give us more precip than models suggest. On the other hand, temperatures will be close to the melting point this evening, so the snow may be wet with some mixed precip at first that may keep overall snowfall totals a bit lower. Put it all together, and I think you're looking at some wet snow/frzg rain this evening, then a more general snow overnight into Saturday morning with 5 cm by midday Saturday.

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