The Red River Valley will continue to see temperatures well above normal for this time of year through the remainder of the week, with daytime highs expected to climb into the mid-teens by the end of the week.

Winnipeg has been basking in the warmth the past few days, setting new daily record high temperatures on Sunday and Monday. This record-setting “heat wave”, with temperatures a good 10-15°C above normal for this time of year, is a result of a persistant long-wave trough off the western coast of North America. While providing cool, wet weather to many places in B.C., Washington State and Oregon, the southwest flow aloft is allowing warm air to make it’s way up the Plains into the Southern Prairies.

Fortunately for us, the long-wave pattern isn’t expected to change any time soon. We’ll see a cooler day today with highs “only” around 7°C as a result of a weak cold front that passed through overnight. Temperatures will begin to rebound quickly, though, with warm air at 850mb spilling northwards into the southern Prairies on Thursday and Friday. This will push daytime highs up to the mid-to-high teens by the end of this week with a good chance that we’ll break record daily daytime highs on Friday and Saturday. Today will be breezy with west winds gusting potentially as high as 70-75km/h. Winds will be calmer for the remainder of the week.

And last but not least, a quick look to the long-term…

Ensemble forecasts continue to forecast near-100% chances of above normal temperatures right to the end of this month. What are normal temperatures for Winnipeg in a couple weeks? The average daytime high for March 28th is 3.0°C; so we could be enjoying mid-teen temperatures, perhaps even close to 20°C, for much of the rest of March.

So far March is living up to “in like a lion, out like a lamb.” Enjoy that beautiful weather!