Weekend outlook

It will be a fairly nice weekend over southern MB this weekend, although brisk winds at times and more cloud cover will make it less pleasant than last weekend when sunny skies and light winds gave ideal conditions for outdoor activities. For this weekend, milder air will try returning on Saturday, but gusty southerly winds and cloud cover will make it feel colder, with temperatures gradually climbing towards the freezing mark by evening. Saturday night should be mild with light winds although a frontal trof crossing southern MB may give a period of light snow to the Red River valley with one or 2 cm possible. Sunday will start off pleasant with mild temperatures (zero to -3c) and light winds. However a cold front will push through by afternoon, bringing increasing northwest winds and falling temperatures in the afternoon and evening.

Monday will be cold with light winds before another Alberta clipper moves through on Tuesday bringing another threat of snow.. possibly 5 cm to southern MB. Colder air will follow in the wake of this system for Wednesday through Friday of next week, with much below normal temperatures. Winter ain't over yet folks..

The week ahead

Today and Wednesday should be dry and seasonable across southern MB with occasional sunshine and near normal temperatures. On Thursday an Alberta clipper system is forecast to track across the Interlake bringing a threat of snow to the south (maybe a couple of cm) with a better chance of accumulating snow through the Interlake and central MB. Drier and briefly colder air will move in for Friday before another more intense Alberta clipper system moves across southern MB over the weekend. This system will likely bring another bout of snowfall to southern MB (perhaps 5 cm or so?) over the weekend with a return to colder weather behind the system by Monday of next week.. thanks to yet another dreaded Arctic high from the Yukon pushing a new surge of Arctic air across the Prairies. This will likely result in below normal temperatures for the first week of March..      

Currently -18 in Winnipeg..or is it?

Quite the difference between the temperature at the Winnipeg airport and everyone else in the city this morning. While the airport was reporting a chilly -18C as of 8 am, most other reporting sites in the city were a good 5 degrees warmer at the same time, with values around the -12 to -13C mark. So if you thought it didn't really feel like -18c out there this morning, you're right. Once again, a light northwest drainage flow has allowed temperatures at the airport site to drop quite a bit more than most areas of the city. In fact, even areas outside the city were only around -13 to -15C mark which shows how localized this pocket of cold air is at the Winnipeg airport.. a common occurrence in situations with clear skies and light northwest winds, especially with snow on the ground.       

Nice weekend over southern MB

After another cold week, it looks like southern MB will be rewarded with a nice weekend, with near normal temperatures, no precipitation, and best of all, little wind!  That should allow residents of southern MB to shake off some of the cabin fever that has settled in over the past two or three weeks due to virtually continuous below normal temperatures and high windchills. The weather this weekend should be ideal to enjoy winter time activities including the Festival du Voyageur, skating at the Forks, or simply taking a walk outside without fear of frostbite.  And it looks like the break from the cold will continue into early next week before a possible cooldown by mid week.. but let's enjoy these next few days before we worry about that!       

Clear cold conditions greet lunar eclipse

It was a clear and cold evening in Winnipeg for tonight's lunar eclipse, with temperatures of -26C and southerly winds of 30 km/h producing a wind chill near -40. Not the most ideal night to be outside, but the sky was nice and clear to view the eclipse between 8 and 10 pm. Here's a nice shot of the moon in total eclipse mode taken from downtown Winnipeg tonight..