Cool Weekend on Tap

Brad Leave a comment

Just when it felt like Winnipeg was out of the woods and summer had arrived, conditions will make it feel like the clock has been turned back to the beginning of the month with temperatures 10°C below normal and a risk of frost returning for the weekend. The cooler weather is courtesy an Arctic airmass that is plunging southwards behind yesterday’s potent system that brought rain & thunderstorms to Saskatchewan & Manitoba.

Today will be a very cool day with brisk northerly winds at 30km/h with some gusts up to around 50km/h.  Today’s high will top out at just 11–12°C through the Red River Valley with mixed-to-cloudy skies until the afternoon when things begin to clear up.  Winds will ease tonight with temperatures plummeting towards the freezing mark. Winnipeg will just be ahead of the main ridge axis, making sub-freezing temperatures quite possible. Areas near the core of the city may escape frost, however anywhere closer to outskirts of the city will have a strong chance of seeing some frost. The low will vary depending where in the city the temperature is measured, but in general I expect it to be around 0°C with temperatures possible 1–2°C colder than than near the outskirts of the city. Rural areas will likely deal with overnight lows of –1 or –2°C.

The remainder of the weekend looks much calmer but still cool. Saturday and Sunday will see high temperatures returning back towards the mid-teens with mainly sunny skies. Some cloud will push through late Saturday through early Sunday which should help keep the overnight lows in the low-to-mid single digits.

A Glance At Next Week

The start of next week will bring a return to more seasonable high temperatures in the 20’s, however alongside the warmer weather comes the potential for more unsettled weather as multiple systems track through the Southern Prairies & Northern Plains.

As such, Southern Manitoba will likely be dealing with a decent chance for showers or rain through the first half of the week. Depending on how things develop, rainfall totals could be anywhere from a trace to over an inch, so we’ll be sure to track things as the weekend progresses. The weather looks to settle down for the second half of the week with daytime highs in the upper teens to lower 20’s.

Unsettled and Cooler towards Week’s End

Matthieu Leave a comment

The warm and sunny weather we will be experiencing today will give way to showers on Thursday and cooler conditions on Friday after a cold front’s passage on Thursday night.

Wednesday

Wednesday
23°C / 12°C
Mainly sunny.

Today will be the nicest day in the second half of this week. Temperatures in the mid-twenties coupled with mainly sunny conditions and fairly light winds during the day will make it feel like a pleasant summer day. Cloud cover is expected to move in overnight – before Thursday morning – ahead of an approaching low pressure system which should keep the overnight low temperatures fairly warm in the low teens.

Thursday

Thursday
19°C / 6°C
Showers possible during the day.

On Thursday a weak low pressure system passing to our south is expected to bring rain to a good part of Southern Manitoba during the morning and afternoon. Accumulations aren’t expected to come close to what we saw during the May Long Weekend storm, but areas near the border could see a decent rainfall. Winnipeg can expect to see totals between 2-5mm, while some areas near the border could see higher amounts – closer to 10mm. Some cloud cover will likely hang around through part the overnight period until the cold front passage.

Friday

Friday
12°C / 0°C
Cooler.

After the passage of the cold front overnight Thursday, cooler air will be ushered in on Friday. With highs only reaching the mid-teens, Friday is expected to be the coolest day of the week. Winds will also be quite gusty behind the cold front on Friday as strong cold air advection occurs behind the front. In turn, Friday night looks to be quite chilly with temperatures in the single digits. It’s too far out to know if temperatures will reach the freezing mark, but gardeners should be aware that temperatures might get close to 0°C.

Long Range

At this point models show that the weekend will be a nice one, high temperatures will be on an upswing as they gradually increase from Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday. No precipitation is expected either, so it should be a good weekend to get out and enjoy the outdoors!

More Warmth Ahead This Week

Scott Leave a comment

The weather this week will continue from where the weekend left off as warm and mainly sunny conditions prevail. Temperatures will remain in the upper twenties, before dropping off a bit mid-week.

Monday

Today will be mainly sunny, although some upper-level cloud may drift through southern Manitoba as a result of a large weather system to our south. Other than that, there isn’t much weather to discuss for today. Temperatures will climb into the upper twenties and winds will remain light.

Tuesday

Tuesday looks to remain quite warm, with temperatures once again reaching the upper twenties. During the afternoon it is expected that the atmosphere will destabilize a bit due to slightly higher humidity and daytime heating. This may result in the development of some showers and thunderstorms. Any storms that do develop will be weak with only very small hail and/or brief gusty winds being possible.

Wednesday

A cold front will pass through southern Manitoba on Wednesday morning, ushering in slightly cooler temperatures. Highs are expected to be in the low to mid twenties under mainly sunny skies. There may be some light showers associated with the passage of the cold front, but other than that no significant weather is expected.

Long Range

The long range forecast suggests we’ll generally stick with above-normal temperatures, although not necessarily as warm as it has been recently. Highs will more likely reside in the low to mid twenties, although the occasional jump into the upper twenties is certainly possible.

Southern Plains States Faced with Serious Flooding

Matthieu Leave a comment

The western troughing pattern, with occasional cut-off lows that have been hanging around the west coast have done good work in eliminating the drought that was entrenched in the Southern Plains past few years. The copious amounts of rain that have fallen in the last month or so has not only taken out a large part of the drought, but caused serious flooding issues in the region. This heavy rainfall stemmed from several storm types; rounds of trailing severe thunderstorms, large areas of stratiform rain as well as slow moving storms the would drop significant amounts of rain. These have all occurred in the Oklahoma/north Texas region since the end of April.

[map type=”hybrid” autofit=”1″ disable_scrollwheel=”1″] [pin tooltip=”Lake Eufalufa”]Lake Eufalufa, ok[/pin] [pin]Norman[/pin] [pin]Wichita Falls[/pin] [/map]

The flooding is not only wreaking havoc on farmers in the area, whose crops are struggling due to all the rain, but also the general population as several major highways in the region have been washed out and forced to close. Lake Eufalufa, one of Oklahoma’s major lakes is currently 14 feet above normal, causing many campsites nearby to be shut down. In Wichita Falls, Texas, neighbourhoods in low-lying areas were forced to evacuate ahead of the next system – the city announced they would be cutting power at all these neighbourhoods to prevent electrical fires. In Norman, Oklahoma, heavy rains from trailing storms turned parts of its Main Street into a fast flowing river this past week. It’s unclear how many people have been affected since the beginning of May throughout the south but two people are known to have died in the floods. The good news is the extreme drought, which covered 29% of the region last year, is now down to 0%.

Past 30-day rainfall in Oklahoma shows significant rainfall across much of the state, with a 495mm tally in Norman.
Past 30-day rainfall in Oklahoma shows significant rainfall across much of the state, with a 495mm tally in Norman.

More rain is in the forecast for most of these regions this weekend – with possibly another significant rainfall in the works. In some of the hardest hit areas, such as central Oklahoma, more than 75 additional millimetres could fall this weekend; flood watches are already in effect and meteorologists are urging residents to limit travel.