Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Feb 20-21st snowfall

Radar image showing 24 hour accumulation estimates up to 8 am Feb 21st based on radar returns. Note sharp western edge of snow shield bissecting Winnipeg.

Yesterday's storm system brought the most significant snowfall of the winter to areas east of the Red River valley overnight into Tuesday morning. Snowfall amounts of 10-20 cm were widespread east of Winnipeg, including 13 cm in Oakbank, 14 cm in Landmark, 15 cm in Beausejour, and 15-20 cm over Steinbach, Pinawa, Falcon Lake and Sprague. In Winnipeg, there was a sharp gradient in snowfall accumulations across the city, ranging from 3 cm in the west end up to 9 cm in the southeast (St Vital area). For further details on this event, see Weather Moment storm summary as well as North Dakota/Minnesota snowfall summary.

23 comments:

  1. DAN P Seems only yesterday you wished this event. Is it time to take your snowblower out?

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  2. 8.5 cm at my place in south end so far (as of 1 PM). Took 10 new measurements in my yard to get that number.

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  3. Where about in the south end if you don't mind me asking? (I'm in the south end too, close to Pembina and Bishop)

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  5. River Park South Adam.

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  6. Another 2.4 cm today in Charleswood for a final tally of 3.8 cm here. Snow depth now up to 12 cm.

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  7. Snowblower.....???? More like get the Bulldozer out :-P

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  8. LOL daniel p, hilarious.

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  9. Rob,

    I see on EC and WN they are calling for 5 cm of snow for Sunday. Any chance of this turning into something bigger?

    thanks

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  10. Anonymous..

    Yes, Sunday looks interesting. All long range models are indicating development of a Colorado low storm system moving into the eastern Dakotas and Minnesota by late Sunday. Right now, consensus takes bulk of snowfall and stormy conditions over Dakotas and Minnesota, with southern MB getting clipped on the northern edge of storm. However, if this thing tracks a little further NW, southern MB could be in line for a significant snowfall of 10 cm or more (along with strong winds) We'll be keeping an eye on this one!

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  11. ECMWF is showing quite the storm and is fairly far north in it's reach!!

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  12. I looked at the GEM-GLB earlier it is pinpointing that we will be on the northern edge of the colorado low on Sunday. Areas south of us could get higher amounts, as rob mentioned. Let's just hope we don't get too much snow here.

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  13. In the shorter term, batch of snow over western RRV tracking east-southeastward. May clip Winnipeg overnight with a couple of cm, although bulk of it looks like it will go to our southwest.

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  14. 4 to 8 cm of snow recorded over SW RRV last night (Carman, Morden area) with that small but fairly intense band of snow.

    Models still fairly consistent on Sunday storm.. taking swath of heaviest snow mainly south of intl border.. but still some snow affecting southern MB. Appears to be a hybrid Alberta clipper/Colorado low system which may make this a more progressive storm than a more classical Colorado low type system.

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  15. Rob when you say a more progressive storm do you mean that the Alberta clipper will push the storm through quicker with out the usuall counter clockwise reversal or that the storm could pack a more intense punch.

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  16. Nice "flurries" were having. Keeps up at this pace there could be a few cm on ground.

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  17. Anon

    I was thinking the same thing

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  18. Daryl..

    By progressive, I mean it may have a faster eastward motion, compared to a slower more powerful Colorado type system that takes a more northerly track. A faster motion may lead to lower snowfall totals, although the snow would fall heavily during the storm. Currently models are suggesting the swath of heaviest snow will remain mainly south of the intl border.. but if the storm tracks a bit further north, we could get a good dump here as well. Bears watching..

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  19. Thks Rob. Why do so many storms seem to take a West to East approach to Manitoba and then stall out and counter clock wise and sometimes even move west before they push back off. Is it have something to do with our topography or is this normal weather pattern everywhere but we just notice it here cause we live here?

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  20. Any idea on how much snow already fell today?

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  21. I took a measurement on Henderson near Cheif Peguis off my truck that had been sitting there for the entire snow and had 1.5cm but pretty fluffy

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  22. Exactly 3.0 cm here at my place in south St. Vital so far today. Really starting to pile up these days with at least 10-15 cm on the ground now in most spots.

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  23. Daryl..

    Sometimes storms will get caught by an upper level low as they cross southern MB, which causes the storm to slow down or even push the pcpn back west. It's just a matter of what's happening in the upper levels of the atmosphere and the strength of the winds aloft that will dictate how the storm behaves. If there's no upper low, but just a strong westerly flow, the storm will track eastward faster.

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