Monday, March 17, 2014

Seasonable weather this week.. turning colder again by the weekend..

It was a pleasant start to the work week in Winnipeg after Sunday's short but intense snowstorm brought up to 10 cm of snow to the city last evening, along with whiteout conditions due to strong southerly winds gusting to 75 km/h. The next few days will see generally benign weather over southern Manitoba as weak ridging crosses the province, while a stronger storm system over the Dakotas brings wintery weather south of the border over the next day or two. Temperatures will be seasonal with afternoon high temperatures near the freezing mark through Thursday. By Friday however, an Arctic ridge of high pressure from the Northwest Territories  is forecast to push south into the Prairies, bringing another spell of below normal temperatures through the weekend into next week. So although spring officially begins this Thursday March 20th at 11:57 am, it doesn't appear that Mother Nature is eager to usher in prolonged springlike conditions anytime soon over southern Manitoba. But that shouldn't be a surprise. Of the top 15 coldest winters in Winnipeg since 1872, NONE were followed by a warmer than normal March. And it looks like Mother Nature is keeping to the script.  
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5 comments:

  1. Mark7:43 PM, March 17, 2014

    Rob can you provide a basic explanation of why we keep getting these cold fronts every few days ? It seems every time we get near seasonal temps we get smacked in this seemingly endless pattern. Thanks
    Mark

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  2. rob8:59 PM, March 17, 2014

    Mark..

    I posted a discussion about the difference between this winter and the one from 2 years ago ("2012 vs 2014 - A tale of 2 winters") and I touch on why this winter has been so persistently cold. It's mainly due to the position and strength of the jet stream.. and this year, it's been stuck in a position that allows frequent Arctic invasions over us, while blocking or limiting mild Pacific airmasses from moving in. Why it set up this way this year and when will it change are tougher questions to answer..

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  3. Todd8:01 AM, March 19, 2014

    Hi Rob,

    With only a week and a half left in March is there anymore snow in the forecast for the rest of the month?

    Would love to put the snow blowers away lol.

    Thanks

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  4. rob10:33 AM, March 19, 2014

    Todd.. We could see some snow Thursday night as an intensifying clipper from Saskatchewan dives into the Dakotas, dragging that change to colder weather behind it. Right now, it looks like the bulk of the snow with that clipper will fall west of the RRV over SW MB and the Riding Mtns where 5-10 cm is possible, but we could still get clipped with a couple cm here in Winnipeg. After that, looks dry but cold for the following week with no major systems forecast at this point.

    But given that we'll likely continue colder than normal for awhile, I would be surprised if we didn't see another significant snowfall in April, at least for the first half. Whether it's worth keeping the snowblowers in operation, I can't say. But I'm superstitious that way.. put them away and for sure we'll get a whopper blizzard in April!

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  5. Todd10:54 AM, March 19, 2014

    Thanks Rob!!

    ReplyDelete

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