Author: Brad

Brad lives in Winnipeg with his wife and two children and is the founder of A Weather Moment. He has loved weather from a very young age and has followed that passion through his life so far. He received a B.Sc. in Earth Sciences with Specialization in Atmospheric Sciences and is currently employed in the field of meteorology. You can find the author as WeatherInThePeg on Mastodon.

Mixed Bag For Second Half of the Work Week

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Winnipeg will dodge the worst of a major storm system that will slam Alberta and portions of Saskatchewan with strong winds and rain; comparatively, things will be quite pleasant!

A major storm is developing over Alberta today that will bring 30-50 mm of rain to the province alongside winds gusting over 100 km/h. This system will spread eastwards and bring significant weather to Saskatchewan later today, but will begin to weaken as it approaches Manitoba overnight. While Winnipeg will be spared from the brunt of this storm, some breezy and unsettled weather is still on the horizon.

First up, today will be a warm and windy day as moderate southerlies develop ahead of the Alberta storm. We should see fairly sunny skies, but winds will pick up out of the south-southeast to 30-40 km/h with gusts to 60 km/h through the morning and early afternoon. Temperatures will be near-seasonal with a high of 21°C.

The winds will continue out of the south-southeast tonight at around 30 gusting 50 km/h as cloud cover pushes in late overnight. Temperatures will drop to a low near 11°C.

Thursday will bring cloudy skies to the region as a trowal1 moves through the region. Whether or not Winnipeg will see rain is still somewhat uncertain; support for it definitely tapers off as the feature moves into the Red River Valley, but it will likely be able to sustain a band of rain or showers that will move through mid-day. A second batch of showers is possible in the early evening as the low pressure system moves into the Interlake.

More recent model runs are beginning to show accumulating rainfall in the Red River Valley on Thursday

While the winds will be breezy first thing, they should diminish through the morning as the low approaches. Temperatures will reach a high near 18°C. Temperatures should dip to around 12°C on Thursday night with the cloud cover breaking up.

Friday will bring mixed skies to Winnipeg & the Red River valley with a high near 19°C. It should stay dry, with any showers to our east and north. Winds will be out of the west at 15-25 km/h. It looks like skies should be fairly clear on Friday night as temperatures dip to a low near 9°C.

Long Range

The mixed bag continues this weekend with Saturday likely bringing a fair amount of sunshine and highs near the 20°C mark, but things take a turn on Sunday with highs dropping into the mid-teens as showers slump southwards out of northern Manitoba. With breezy northwesterly winds, it will likely be a relatively unpleasant day. The unsettled weather may persist into Monday, but then the remainder of next week looks pleasant with dry conditions and highs in the low 20’s.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 21°C while the seasonal overnight low is 7°C.

  1. Trowal stands for “trough of warm air aloft” and is the warm air rising around a low pressure system from the occluding frontal wave. ↩

Rain Today Gives Way to Sunny & Seasonal Weather

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The reprieve from yesterday’s 10-20mm of rain that fell across the Red River Valley will be short-lived as another disturbance will move through the region today and bring more wet weather. Fortunately, things will improve quickly with clouds clearing out for Tuesday and Wednesday alongside a rebound to seasonal temperatures.

It will be another cool one in Winnipeg today with mainly cloudy skies and intermittent showers as a disturbance slumps southwards from the Interlake, bringing another couple millimetres of rain to the region. Temperatures will top out at just 12°C today, kept down by the cooler air mass and brisk northerly winds that will develop a bit later this morning to around 30 gusting 50 km/h. The rainy weather will finally taper off late this afternoon into the early evening, and Winnipeg will be left with cloudy skies and northerly winds of 15 to 20 km/h as temperatures dip to a low near 8°C.

Light rainfall accumulations are expected across portions of Southern Manitoba today.

Tuesday will be a much nicer day with skies clearing in the morning and then temperatures climbing to a high near 19°C. Winds will remain out of the north to northeast at 15-20 km/h. Expect a low near 9°C on Tuesday night under clear skies with light winds.

Wednesday will bring more pleasant weather to the city with mainly sunny skies and a high near 21°C. Winds will increase out of the south from calm to around 30 km/h through the day.

Long Range

Conditions will turn more unsettled through the second half of the week as a major storm develops over Alberta and track eastwards.

A very potent low pressure system will develop in Alberta on Wednesday, bringing very strong and potentially damaging winds with it. This system will track eastwards and weaken through the second half of the week.

As it does so, Winnipeg will see a few chances for precipitation Thursday through Saturday, but it really seems like we’ll avoid the worst of this system. We’ll be keeping an eye on it as it develops and begins to push towards the region.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 21°C while the seasonal overnight low is 7°C.

Warmer, Cloudier Conditions Arrive for the Weekend

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After a couple windy and seasonably cool days, temperatures are set to warm slightly towards near-seasonal values. Unfortunately, the sun will end up rather elusive through the weekend as a low pressure system lifting northwards out of Texas pushes towards Manitoba and spreads cloud into the region.

Despite a rather cool start to the morning, temperatures will rebound nicely today as the ridge of high pressure responsible for the cool, windy weather the past few days begins pushing off to the east. With light winds, Winnipeg will warm up to a high near 18 or 19°C under plenty of sunshine for much of the day. By mid- to late-afternoon, cloud cover will begin to push into the region from the south, spread northwards from a low pressure system heading towards Minnesota from Texas.

Winds will remain light on Friday night as temperatures drop to a low near 7°C under mixed to mostly cloudy skies.

Saturday will bring mostly cloudy skies to Winnipeg and the Red River Valley with temperatures climbing to a high near 18°C. Winds will remain light once again, making for a relatively pleasant day despite the lack of sunshine. Temperatures drop back down to around 8°C on Saturday night under cloudy skies.

Milder weather will push back into Manitoba for Friday and Saturday

Sunday will finally bring southern Manitoba under the influence of the low pressure system from Texas as pushes northeastwards through Minnesota. This system has a high chance of bringing some rain to southeastern Manitoba, but further west in the Red River Valley there exists a bit more uncertainty.

The bulk of the precipitation associated with this system will fall in Ontario, however it’s quite likely there will be a band of rain wrapping around the back-side of the low that impacts southeastern Manitoba. The biggest question is how far west that rain will be able to wrap around. The best indications at the moment is that the Whiteshell, Sprague, and areas primarily south of Steinbach and east of the Red River will see some rain, with areas further west in the Red River Valley having just a chance of showers. For the areas that do see rain, amounts should be light, with just around 2-4mm expected.

Some rain is expected to wrap-around a low pressure system into southeastern Manitoba on Sunday


Otherwise, temperatures will rise to a high near 17°C in Winnipeg while winds increase out of the north to 20-30 km/h. The chance for rain will taper off through the afternoon, then Winnipeg will head towards an overnight low of 8°C on Sunday night under mixed to cloudy skies.

Long Range

Much of the same is expected into the first half of next week. Monday will likely continue to bring fairly cloudy conditions with a very slight chance of a shower as temperatures climb to a high in the 15-20°C range. Tuesday into Wednesday should see things settle down with near-seasonal temperatures, but then the pattern may switch to slightly more unsettled, bringing in some chances for precipitation through the latter half of the week into the weekend.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 20°C while the seasonal overnight low is 6°C.

Weather Settles to Breezy & Seasonably Cool

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A ridge of high pressure building into Manitoba will usher in breezy northerly winds for Winnipeg and temperatures sightly below normal for mid-May.

Today will start off with overcast skies as a deck of stratus cloud pushes southwards through the region. The cloudy conditions will be made worse by northerly winds strengthening to 40-50 km/h with gusts to around 60 km/h. Skies will clear out in the afternoon, letting some sunshine through and helping temperatures reach a high near 14°C. Any remaining cloud will clear out tonight as temperatures drop to a low near +2°C with breezy northerly winds of 30-40 km/h.

An area of strong winds will develop over Southern Manitoba & the Northern Plains as air moves out of a high in Saskatchewan into a low heading towards Wisconsin.

Thursday will see the centre of the high pressure system move into southern Manitoba. It will bring sunny skies and cool temperatures with a high near 14°C once again in Winnipeg, but those northerly winds will continue into the afternoon across the Red River Valley at 30 gusting 50 km/h.1 The winds will quickly taper off in the evening as Winnipeg heads to an overnight low near +2°C once again under clear skies.

On Friday, the ridge of high pressure will start departing off to the east, taking the colder air and breezy winds with it. This will allow temperatures to rebound back towards near-seasonal with Winnipeg seeing a daytime high near 18°C. While the day will start of sunny, some cloud cover will build into the region in the afternoon. Friday night will bring mixed to cloudy skies, light winds and a low near 6°C.

Long Range

The weekend is looking fairly pleasant with variable cloudiness and near-seasonal temperatures. There are some indications in the long-range models that the next chance for rain will arrive early next week, but confidence at this point is quite low. Otherwise, the weather will be consistent, if nothing else, over the coming week, with continued near-seasonal temperatures and variable cloudiness.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 20°C while the seasonal overnight low is 6°C.

  1. Southwestern Manitoba will see relief earlier, with winds tapering off to around 15-20 km/h midday Thursday. ↩