A powerful Alberta Clipper system will push through southwest Manitoba this evening bringing heavy snowfall and blowing snow to the region.
The weather across Southern Manitoba will be fairly benign today with daytime highs generally sitting just below the freezing mark with increasing clouds through the day. Winds will remain light through the day. Light snow will push into southwestern Manitoba this afternoon, potentially pushing into the western Red River Valley as well. Winnipeg may see some light snow this afternoon, but it’s going to likely remain to our southwest; should snow push into the city, there will be little-to-no accumulation. Regions that see more persistent snow today, potentially including the western Red River Valley, accumulations will likely total around 2-ish cm.
Mostly cloudy with patchy light snow.
-3°C / -16°C
Early this evening the Alberta Clipper will begin working it’s way into the Virden & Melita regions, quickly expanding eastwards towards Brandon and Pilot Mound. General snowfall accumulations will be close to 5cm, but there will also be a very narrow band, just north of the track of the clipper, where accumulations will be closer to 10cm. This corridor of heavy snow will lie across the Trans-Canada highway near the Saskatchewan border; anybody travelling west tonight should prepare to encounter heavy snow, snow drifts and near-zero visibilities near the Saskatchewan border. Further east, there’s a little disagreement on what will happen; most models suggest very little snow will fall in the Red River Vally tonight, however the NAM guidance is suggesting that a fair amount could fall. At this point, I think that most of the snow will push into North Dakota before it pushes eastwards towards Winnipeg or the central Red River Valley. Areas near the International Border may get clipped with a couple cm of snow as this clipper exits the region. Winds will remain relatively light, picking up to 20 gusting 40km/h out of the northeast overnight through much of Southern Manitoba. Temperatures will drop to around –14 to –16°C across Southern Manitoba.
Thursday
Clearing in the morning.
-14°C / -21°C
Cooler air will filter into Southern Manitoba on Thursday behind the clipper, bringing us a return to seasonal temperatures. The remaining cloud from Wednesday’s system should clear out fairly early in the day, leaving us with mainly sunny skies. We’ll climb to around –13°C with a light north wind. Temperatures will drop into the –20’s tonight as another Arctic ridge slumps into the Prairies.
Friday
Clearing in the morning.
-14°C / -20°C
Southern Manitoba will be locked under the Arctic ridge on Friday which will result in another day with seasonal temperatures. Highs will sit near –15°C on Friday across most of Southern Manitoba with temperatures dropping back towards –20°C for the night.
After that, it looks like we’ll head back towards above-normal temperatures for a few days. Little-to-no precipitation is expected over the next while.
