Rainfall Amounts

     A potent system from south of the border brought long-awaited rainfall to southeastern Manitoba and the Red River Valley Friday and Saturday. Thunderstorms over southeastern Manitoba on Friday brought as much as 49.4 mm of rain in Sprague. These heavier amounts were more isolated however. The widespread rains came yesterday. Here's some total rainfall amounts for Friday AND Saturday combined:

Community	Rain total Friday & Saturday
Sprague	94.6 mm
Pinawa	32.8 mm
Steinbach	32.3 mm
Selkirk	32.2 mm
Dugald	31.6 mm
Lorette	27.4 mm
St Pierre Jolys	26.8 mm
St Adolphe	23.4 mm
Emerson	23.1 mm
Morris	20.4 mm
Altona	18.3 mm
Morden	15.7 mm
Gimli	15.2 mm
Carman	13.1 mm
Portage	7.6 mm

     And in Winnipeg, amounts were generally in the 20-27 mm range:

Community	Rain total Friday & Saturday
Sturgeon Creek	26.9 mm
U of W (downtown)	26.4 mm
South St Vital (me)	25.9 mm
Transcona	25.9 mm
Charleswood	24.7 mm
The Forks	23.8 mm
Airport	20.5 mm

     The weekend will end fairly nice today. There will be lots of sun to start with at least, with highs reaching near 20°C. We'll likely see some thicker cloud move in later in the day with a small chance of a shower. Little to no accumulation is expected if showers do occur. Tomorrow looks nice as well with highs just above 20°C with a mix of sun and cloud and a very small chance of an isolated sprinkle.

     Winds pick up Tuesday from the west with gusts to 60 km/h possible at times. Highs in the high teens are expected.

Growing Season Ends At Winnipeg Airport

     With a low of -1.3°C this morning, the 2013 growing season has officially ended at the airport. Today marked the first below zero reading since May 12 when we dipped to -7.3°C. That puts the 2013 growing season at 131 days long. This is actually a little above the 1981-2010 normal of 123 days (122.4 days is the decimal value). It is also the 4th longest growing season in the last 20 years.

     Here are some other lows that were seen across southern Manitoba this morning:

Community	Morning low Sep 21, 2013
Wasagaming	-3.5°C
Berens River	-3.1°C
Gimli Industrial	-2.5°C
Dauphin	-1.5°C
Emerson	-1.4°C
Fisher Branch	-0.9°C
Brandon	-0.4°C
Morden	0.0°C

     However, most areas inside Winnipeg were spared of the sub-freezing temperatures with lows of 1.5°C at my place in south St Vital and 4.9°C at the The Forks. Thus, the growing season still continues inside city limits.

     Next weather story will be some rain on Monday. Uncertainty on track of the system keeps rainfall amounts in question at this time, but heaviest hit areas could see 5-15 mm. It is possible that most of the rain may remain west of Winnipeg, but it is too early to guarantee this. Also of note is that the rain likely wont last all day so it wont be a complete washout of a day. There may even be a thunderstorm in the overnight and morning hours early in the day, but the risk is quite small.