Rare thundersnow hits Winnipeg Thursday night

A rare occurrence of "thundersnow" occurred in Winnipeg last night as a weather system tracked across Southern MB, bringing the season's first general snowfall mainly north and east of Winnipeg. Around 11:45 pm a band of wet snow was moving through Winnipeg when a sudden flash of lightning generated a very loud thunderclap that some people mistook for an explosion. I was awoken by the thunder myself, and it was as loud as any close by summertime lightning strike, yet it was +1 and snowing at the time. I didn't see the flash, but many people reported one. Data from the lightning detector network indicates that the strike hit somewhere near the Eldridge/Oakdale area of Charleswood and generated 104,000 amps of electricity, which is a very powerful stroke. (normal lightning strikes generate about 20-40,000 amps) Note that this was the only strike recorded last night.. almost like the cloud built up all this static electricity, then released it all at once right over Charleswood! By the way, thunder is very rare around these parts during the cold season, with only 4 official occurrences between November and March in the last 50 years at Winnipeg Airport.

A little snow on the way tonight?

A weak system over Saskatchewan is forecast to spread an area of snow into southern MB today which will move into the Winnipeg area by this afternoon or evening.  Radar shows some light snow moving into western MB from Saskatchewan this morning.  The snow will likely be melting on contact with the ground by the time it reaches Winnipeg as temperatures will be above freezing. There's even a chance the precipitation will mix with light rain if temperatures get warm enough (around +3 or +4C) For tonight, temperatures should remain steady near the freezing/melting point, so any snow that falls will likely be melting however we could see a slushy accumulation of 1 or 2 cm mainly on grassy surfaces tonight. There's a better chance of some accumulating snow north of Winnipeg through the Interlake areas where temperatures will be a little cooler and the main precipitation axis is forecast. The system is expected to exit southern MB overnight with drier conditions for Friday.  

First snowfall arriving Sunday?

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, it looks like Winnipeg and much of Southern MB may be seeing the first general snowfall of the season by Sunday night. An Alberta clipper system will track across southern MB on Sunday bringing an area of snow with it. Precipitation will move into western Manitoba from Saskatchewan Sunday morning, reaching Winnipeg by afternoon. Precipitation in Winnipeg may start off as a mix of rain and wet snow at first, but will change to all snow by evening as colder air moves in. The snow may fall heavily for a time Sunday evening before ending overnight. Accumulations of 2 to 5 cm are possible, but some of that will melt due to the still warm ground. Colder air will sweep in behind the system Sunday night into Monday, with temperatures falling below freezing. As a result, there could be some icy driving conditions for early Monday.

Noel strengthens to hurricane status - heading towards Nova Scotia

Tropical storm Noel strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Thursday evening with maximum sustained winds of 70 kt (130 km/h) The storm, which has lashed the Caribbean and Bahamas with heavy rain and deadly flooding, is moving northward and will continue up the Gulf Stream heading towards Nova Scotia this weekend. The storm is expected to lose its hurricane status on Friday as it heads north, but it will evolve into a large intense "extra-tropical" storm system that is forecast to make a direct hit on southwest Nova Scotia late Saturday. The storm will bring powerful winds to Nova Scotia Saturday into Saturday night, with near hurricane force winds possible especially along the Atlantic shoreline with damage possible to trees and power lines. Heavy rain is also likely especially to the west of the storm track over New Brunswick. This will be an interesting storm to monitor over the next few days, as the remnants of Noel track across the Maritimes.

Some links to monitor the progress of Noel..

NOAA Hurricane Center
Canadian Hurricane Center
Halifax Radar
Boston Radar
Cape Cod Weather
Halifax Herald

First taste of winter moving in next week..

Get ready for our first blast of cold air this season by early next week. A developing low pressure system over the Pacific will move across southern AB and track across the southern Prairies Sunday into Sunday night. This system will bring cold northwest winds behind it which will sweep across southern MB Sunday night into Monday. The cold air will be well entrenched across southern MB Monday and Tuesday with daily highs struggling to get above freezing, along with cold northwest winds. In addition guidance suggests this system has the potential to bring the season's first accumulating snow across southern MB Sunday night depending on the eventual track of this system. Models bring an east-west swath of snow anywhere from North Dakota through central MB, with local amounts of 5 cm possible.

Dry but cool weather is expected through the middle of next week before a potential for another snowfall late next week into next weekend. Looks like winter will finally be making an appearance next week over Southern MB!