Winnipeg will finally get prolonged relief from the bitter cold as significantly warmer temperatures will be in place for the next 5-7 days.

Winnipeg will likely see the “best all-around” day of the next week today, as clear skies combine with relatively light west-southwest winds of 15-25 km/h and a high near -2°C to make for simply gorgeous January conditions. Cloud over tonight with a good chance for a bit of light snow to move through but no accumulations are expected. Temperatures will dip to a low near -11°C.

Thursday will bring slightly cooler temperatures to Winnipeg with a daytime high near -4°C and light southerly winds. Skies will remain mostly cloudy for the day, so it’ll end up a bit of a sloppier, dreary day particularly when compared to Wednesday’s bright sunny skies. The cloud will thicken up on Thursday night as a low pressure system races eastwards out of northern Alberta. Temperatures will actually rise to around -1°C by Friday morning as that Alberta low pushes warmer air into the region overnight.

Friday morning may bring a complication to the morning commute: the potential for freezing rain. As the low pressure system passes through the Interlake, it is expected to develop an area of showers over the Red River Valley.¹ The biggest uncertainty is when exactly the showers move in, as temperatures should climb above 0°C by mid-morning. With the day starting near -1°C, it’s likely that treated roads won’t have too much trouble if the rain begins before it climbs above freezing, but extra caution should be taken on side streets and bridges.

The chance of showers should taper off by afternoon, and temperatures will climb to a high near +2°C with winds out of the west-southwest at 10 to 20 km/h. Friday night may bring a bit of clearing as temperatures head to a low near -8°C.

Long Range Outlook

The weekend will continue to bring above-seasonal temperatures, but not quite as significantly as during the week. Daytime highs of -5 to -8°C are expected on Saturday and Sunday with overnight lows both nights near -13°C. Plenty of cloud will remain in place for the weekend. Fortunately, winds will remain light so all in all it should be easy to get outside and enjoy some winter activities!

Temperatures are then expected to return to near-seasonal values next week with daytime highs in the -10 to -15°C range and overnight lows approaching -20°C.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently -13°C while the seasonal overnight low is -23°C.

1. At this point, it looks like the showers will develop along the upper-level jet that will run from southeastern Montana northeastwards into the Red River Valley then arc straight eastwards into Ontario, roughly aligning along the cold front, across the triple point, and down the warm front associated with the Interlake low. ↩