Monday 16 January 2012

Frigid, Chances for Snow

     After record-breaking warmth just a week ago, this week has a whole new face. We're expecting lows in the low minus twenties tonight, between -26 and -28 for the city of Winnipeg. Highs may not even reach -20 C tomorrow!
     Tomorrow night and Wednesday is our next chance for some snow. Models have been in a bit of a disagreement with where the band of snow will end up though. Some are indicating the band will be mainly confined in North Dakota and along the US Border, although others like the NAM have been showing the band sticking over southern Manitoba. Wherever the band ends up, totals could be in the 5-10 cm range in the heaviest hit areas. Personally, I am leaning towards more of a southern track, therefore I am expecting a possible 1-3 cm for the city. Tomorrow things should become more clear, and an update will be provided.
     Behind that system, things will only get colder. Thursday morning could potentially be our first -30 C reading of the season. Daytime highs Thursday will only be in the mid minus twenties :~

     Moderating temperatures are possible by the weekend, with some snow possible Saturday and Sunday, although temperatures will likely only be closer to normal. It is too early to tell at this point just how much snow we may receive, although it does not appear hugely significant at this point. The real warm-up at this point appears to be early next week, with highs possibly getting back into the minus single digits. Stay tuned for the latest updates!

10 comments:

  1. Our low of -27 C this morning in the city was balmy compared to Saskatchewan and Alberta!! It got down to a brutal -38 C in Saskatoon this morning, along with wind chills near -46 or -47. Similar story in Edmonton and Red Deer, with lows of -33 C. Highs in those areas today struggled to get over -30 C, even in Calgary.

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  2. Models are in more agreement with the upcoming snowfall tonight and tomorrow morning. It does appear that most of the snow will fall along the US Border, with just light snow for the city of Winnipeg. Perhaps 1 or 2 cm in the city, while areas along the US Border could see 2-5 cm. With temperatures this cold, it definitely wont be a heavy wet snow, rather a very fine, light and fluffy snow.

    Snow will likely be beginning soon in the city, within the next couple hours. Visibility down to 5 km in Portage and 3 km in Brandon at the moment in light snow.

    The cloud will prevent temperatures from plummeting tonight, and perhaps even allow them to rise slightly overnight to -23. The snow will be over by afternoon tomorrow, and then skies will clear quickly allowing temperatures to plummet to -30 to -33 C Thursday morning.

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  3. Measured 2.1 cm of snow here in south end. Snow has ended, skies have cleared, now brace yourselves for a bone-chilling night! Lows near -30 to -32 C definitely possible, and with winds of 20 km/h, it will feel closer to -40 to -43. Wind chill warnings have been issued by Environment Canada.

    Our next snowfall appears to be sometime on Saturday. Again it appears like it will be a fairly insignificant event, possibly a cm or two at most with majority of the snow to our north. Although stay tuned for the latest updates...

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  4. Anyone, at any time of year, feel free to share your snowfall and rainfall measurements here, no matter where you live in southern Manitoba! It is always interesting to compare =)

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  5. Temperatures actually didn't get as cold as was expected overnight. 'only' got down to -29 at the WPG airport yesterday evening, then remained near -27 and -28 C rest of the night. Areas in the western RRV saw the warmest overnight lows, near -27 C in Portage and Morden. The milder temperatures could possibly be attributed to the westerly wind that dominated the night. It may have actually gave us a bit of a warming downslope effect, which kept our temps a little milder.

    Will be interesting to see if the southwest wind tonight will have the same effect. The expected low tonight is around -31 C, although if we get some downsloping again, perhaps we will evade -30 C again?

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  6. Even though the wind will be from the west or south west overnight, it will be lighter than it was last night. As a result, I think WPG will finally bottom out near -30 C tonight.. If we don't, thank the west wind again =)

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  7. Temperatures are struggling to cool down :P Still -24 C at the airport as of 9 PM, with a SW wind of 15 km/h. There is still a chance we may reach -30 C in the early morning as winds diminish a bit overnight, although I would not be surprised if we evaded -30 C again...

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  8. Well, we evaded -30 C, again! Consider ourselves VERY lucky. We really missed the worst of this arctic outbreak, as Saskatchewan and Alberta suffered the coldest air. Saskatoon stands out the most to me among the big cities in this outbreak, as they had lows of -31, -38, -36, -31, -32 respectively over the past 5 days. The coldest we got in WPG is -28.9 C. I will provide some more stats in a new post tonight.

    Get ready for a warmup! Today is the last day of frigid cold for a while. Temperatures may even try to push the freezing mark by late next week, although it is a little early to draw to conclusions. Models hint at us cooling down during the last couple days of the month, or to start February, so don't be fooled, winter is not over just yet! Our chances of snow also increase along with the warmer weather though.

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  9. Many models show the bulk of the snow Sunday staying to our south and east, although the NAM has been bringing us closer to that snow in recent updates. Things will be clearer tomorrow, but the heaviest hit areas could be getting some significant snow (5-10 cm + )

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  10. Well, we came out lucky this time around, now it's warm up time =) I was hoping to have a new post ready by tonight, but time was slim, I should have one in the morning.

    Tomorrow, there's a good chance of flurries/light snow, though the main event is Sunday. The NAM has pushed the main area of snow even further north, putting south eastern MB in the 5-15 cm zone. Tomorrow, the forecast will be a little clearer.

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