Monday, December 23, 2013

Snow and strong winds moving in overnight into Christmas Eve morning.. quiet weather expected for Christmas

A band of snow over western Saskatchewan this evening is forecast to track east into southern Manitoba tonight reaching Winnipeg and the Red River valley overnight into the morning rush hour. Not a lot of snow is expected in Winnipeg.. perhaps 2 cm or so.. but strong southerly winds gusting to 60 or 70 km/h will produce considerable drifting and blowing snow, with poor visibilties likely in open areas. This area of snow is expected to move off by midday Tuesday, with diminishing winds and milder conditions for the afternoon. Seasonably cold weather is expected through the Christmas holidays with no major snowfalls.. good news for travellers.. before our next chance for more significant snow by Saturday as a clipper system moves into southern MB. Whatever the weather.. have a safe and happy holiday season. Season's greetings from Rob's Obs!

12 comments:

  1. Saturday system looking interesting.. preliminary guidance showing 10-15 cm possible across southern MB including Winnipeg.

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  2. Rob,
    I noticed listening to the radio that CBC forecasts a "big storm" tuesday into christmas? Do you at all know why they would say this when it is highly unlikely?

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  3. Anonymous.. not sure where they're getting that info. We have some strong winds and a bit of snow this morning.. but otherwise no big storm expected for Christmas. Even CBC's own forecast says the same thing..

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  4. Looks like the wind vane of my weather station is stuck in a NW position. Wind speeds look fine, but the direction is wrong.. obviously a strong south wind right now, not NW. Will have to check if it's a faulty wire or the vane is frozen.

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  5. Rob I don't see anyone forecasting any snow or activity for Saturday they were forecasting some snow for Friday but have decreased the amount of snow we were suppose to get. What type of system do you see we have in store for us?

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  6. Temperatures have climbed into the minus single digits over the western RRV as winds have shifted into the west. Still stuck at -14C here in Winnipeg with a south wind up the valley keeping us colder. Our winds shift into the west later this evening which should pop us briefly into some milder air from the west..possibly above -10C. Not bad for anyone attending midnight mass tonight!

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  7. Anonymous.. Still looking like a clipper will bring in snow starting Friday night and tapering off by midday Saturday. Models are indicating a potential of 5-10 cm for Winnipeg, with 10-15 cm possible over parts of southern MB with this system. Much colder temps to follow in wake of system for weekend into next week.

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  8. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays all.

    I hope you received some long underwear, because next week looks to be starting out frigid again. The GEM-GLB is likely too cold (as usual lately) but -30's looks to be reasonable for overnight lows! Might as well try to set some more records.

    -Garth

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  9. Rob, why on a morning like this where some light snow is falling, it does not show up on radar??

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  10. Rob, do you think that we can get above 0 in Winnipeg on Friday and into the positive territory. Or is that a long shot ?

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  11. >> Anonymous said...Rob, why on a morning like this where some light snow is falling, it does not show up on radar??

    Sometimes, the snow is just too light with very little water content for it to be picked up well on radar. This often occurs when precipitation falls from what is known as "boundary layer" cloud, or low level clouds that don't have a lot of vertical development or moisture with them, but are thick enough to produce some light snow or drizzle. The snow over the past day or so has been like this.. very light and fluffy with very little moisture content with it, so hard to pick up on radar. For the record, I picked up about up about 4 cm of snow since yesterday morning, most of it light fluff.

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  12. >>Anonymous said.. Rob, do you think that we can get above 0 in Winnipeg on Friday and into the positive territory. Or is that a long shot ?

    I think we'll get close to the freezing mark Friday, but it'll be tough for Winnipeg to get above zero. Perhaps western or southern RRV may have a shot. Still, temps of -2C will feel awfully nice Friday, especially in light of what is coming behind this clipper for the weekend into next week. Back to the deep freeze unfortunately. Enjoy the next couple of mild days!

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