April 2009 stats and snowfall summary

April 2009 finished with a monthly mean temperature of +3.3C at Winnipeg airport, 0.7C below normal of +4.0C. This makes April the fifth month in a row that has finished below normal, and the 11th of the past 15 months with monthly mean temperatures cooler than average. The main story for April 2009 was the absence of heat, rather than any major cold spells, that kept temperatures below normal. The highest temperature for the month was only 18C, the first time since 1997 that Winnipeg hasn't hit the 20C mark during April. The month started with a cruel April Fool's joke from Mother Nature with a 13 cm snowfall on the last day of March into April 1st. That was the last significant snowfall of the winter (we hope!) bringing the total seasonal snowfall for the winter of 2008-09 to 126 cm at my site, some 16 cm above the Winnipeg average snowfall of 110 cm.

Snowfall stats from 2008-09 - Charleswood
(Winnipeg averages in brackets)

October 2008.......... 0.0 cm (5 cm)
November 2008 ..... 15.0 cm (21 cm)
December 2008 ...... 28.2 cm (20 cm)
January 2009 ......... 28.6 cm (23 cm)
February 2009 ...... 14.0 cm (14 cm)
March 2009 .......... 35.0 cm (16 cm)
April 2009 ............ 5.6 cm (10 cm)

TOTAL................ 126.4 cm (110 cm)

Strong spring storm to bring rain to southern MB.. heavy snow to southwest SK

A strong spring storm organizing in Montana will track slowly eastward into North Dakota Wednesday and over southern MB Thursday. Rain from this system will spread across southern MB from the south and southwest during the day Wednesday reaching Winnipeg by late afternoon. Rain will continue Wednesday night over the Red River valley with 10-20 mm possible. Heavier amounts of 20-30 mm are possible over southwest MB and along the US border. Colder air on the backside of the storm system will bring heavy snow to Montana and parts of southern SK Wednesday, and it's possible that rain will change over to wet snow over portions of western MB Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

What's up with this weather?

Interesting satellite formation this afternoon.. even Mother Nature seems confused about our spring weather this year!

System to bring rain/wet snow to southeast MB

A storm system developing in Colorado will track into Minnesota on Sunday bringing an area of rain into southern MB Sunday afternoon into Sunday night. Rain will likely change to wet snow Sunday night as colder air works into the backside of the storm system, with some accumulations possible by Monday morning (5 cm or less). The bulk of precipitation with this system is expected to hit the southern Red River valley and southeast MB where 5-10 mm is possible, while amounts of 10-20 mm are possible through the Red River valley of North Dakota. This system will pull out of the area on Monday but cooler than normal weather is likely through the rest of next week as cool high pressure remains entrenched across the Prairies while a stubborn storm track brings periodic rain or snow south of the border.        

Brief warmup.. then cooler with rain (or even snow!) possible by end of week

After a cool gloomy weekend, the weather will be getting a little brighter and warmer over the first half of this week. Clouds will give way to sunshine today which will allow temperatures to get to the 10 degree mark. Tuesday should be dry with sunshine mixing with some high cloud ahead of a weak disturbance moving through southern SK. On Wednesday a stronger storm system will track through the central Prairies bringing an increasing southerly flow over southern MB with temperatures climbing into the mid teens over the RRV, possibly hitting 20 degrees over SW MB. On Thursday, the storm system will drag a cold front through southern MB, bringing cooler air back into the province by the end of the week. This frontal zone will stall south of the US border late in the week through the weekend, with several impulses moving along the frontal zone that may threaten rain over the Red River valley Friday into the weekend. In fact, the air will be cold enough that rain may change to wet snow over higher elevations of SW MB. Cooler than normal weather is expected into next week.