Sunday, July 13, 2008

Unseasonably strong system whips Southern MB

An intense storm system moved northeast of Berens River Saturday bringing a large swath of rain and strong winds over southern and central MB. The storm system.. which deepened to 984 mb.. was more typical of a fall-type storm system that commonly brings strong winds and rain to Manitoba. But such a system is unusual for the middle of July, and prompted the issuance of a rare July gale warning over the MB lakes where wind gusts over 45 kt were recorded on the eastern shores of Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba. The strong winds extended over all areas of southern MB resulting in numerous broken tree branches across the area. Rainfall with this system ranged from 10-20 mm over Winnipeg and the southern Interlake to 50-75 mm over the northern lakes in places like Grand Rapids and Norway House.

Some peak wind gusts recorded yesterday included..

Oak Point Marine..... 94 km/h (east shore of Lake Manitoba)
Victoria Beach....... 91 km/h (east shore of Lake Winnipeg)
Brandon.............. 78 km/h
Dauphin.............. 78 km/h
Winnipeg............. 74 km/h
Gimli................ 69 km/h

Much better weather is in store today with sunny skies and lighter winds. After yesterday, we deserve it.

7 comments:

  1. there is quite of bit of tree damage around Winnipeg with all the strong winds of yesterday!

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  2. In contrast to the last weekend's well defined system... this week's surface pressure pattern looks very complex and subtle. Westerly flow aloft with embedded impulses from a low dropping thru BC. A well defined low level jet will nose into S Minnesota (seems to be a preferred pattern.. they very rarely punch into S Manitoba)

    Still, the models are hinting at a bimodal precip pattern along a double frontal structure (yikes). Interesting that an MCS could be supported so far north of the low level moist advection, but it does have good upper dynamics to play with. The aforementioned MCS could clip SW Manitoba tonite as it rolls SE into N Dakota.

    Then attention will turn to SE Saskatchewan and SW Manitoba tomorrow afternoon. Depending on debris cloud etc, could be severe surface based convection with decent instability and helicity/shear to work with.

    Looks like Winnipeg will get bypassed by everything until the main upper low rolls in by the end of the weekend (could get very interesting). Rob what is your take on this muddled pattern?

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  3. Looks like Environment Canada is calling for a risk of a severe thunderstorm tomorrow night!
    Look like things could get interesting!

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  4. Can someone tell me if the Winnipeg airport has hit 30 C yet this year!
    I know we have been close but I have a feeling we have not!!!
    If that is the case then it better hurry up and hit 30 because we are running out of time!

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  5. I don't think we did yet the highest temp we have had so far would 29 I think. whats going on with the severeweather in southwestern manitoba is winnipeg at risk ? by the looks of it storms will weaken before we get anything.

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  6. Daniel..

    Today looks interesting over SW Manitoba, especially where some sun can get through (far SW right now is clearest.. debris cloud needs to scatter elsewhere) Good shear and moderate instability will give a potential of severe storms with large hail.. risk of isolated tornadic supercells. System moves across southern MB this evening into tonight, with locally heavy rain and a good lightning show again for some. Drier weather moves in Thursday and Friday.

    Quite the storm across southern AB last evening. Radar showed a monster storm that moved from Taber area to Medicine Hat with a massive storm-scale mesocyclone associated. Lots of wind damage along Hwy 3 between Taber and the Hat, with many stations reporting wind gusts of 50-70 kt as storm moved through. Storm survey team will go out today to determine if damage was due to tornadoes or straight line winds.

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  7. Officially, Winnipeg airport has not hit 30C this year yet. Max has been 29.7C on June 30th. However, the Forks weather station downtown has hit the 30c mark 3 times.. June 30th (30.9C), July 1st (30.0C) and July 5th (30.2C)

    Models hinting at warmer weather next week.. hopefully the airport will hit that 30C mark yet this summer!

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