Calm weather is expected in Winnipeg and across the Red River Valley over the next few days, a welcome reprieve from the severe thunderstorm activity that moved through the region on Wednesday.

Today will be an improvement over the cool and blustery conditions that moved through the Red River Valley yesterday. While skies will be mixed remain mixed, temperatures will be a couple degrees warmer than Thursday with a high temperature near 23°C. Gusty winds will remain out of the northwest at 20-30 km/h.

Temperatures will dip down to around 13°C tonight with partly cloudy skies.

Saturday will be a very pleasant day as a ridge of high pressure moves over the province. Winnipeg & the Red River Valley will see daytime highs near 25°C under mainly sunny skies and light northwesterly winds. Temperatures will dip down to around 13°C once again on Saturday night under clear skies.

Sunday will bring warmer weather back to the Red River Valley as the ridge moves off to the east, winds switch around to the south, and a warm front begins lifting northwards out of the United States. As the warm front moves into the province through the day, skies will become gradually mixed with temperatures climbing into the upper 20s. Fortunately, despite the southerly flow, it appears that the humidity will be kept at bay and the weekend will be ending with warm, comfortable conditions instead of another muggy mess.

Long Range

Early indications are that our nice dry weather will come to an end early next week as yet another low pressure system tracks out of the northern United States and into the southeastern Prairies. This system will spread another batch of thunderstorm activity across southern Manitoba with the main event on Monday night into Tuesday.

Initial indications are that severe weather may also be possible with this system as moderate CAPE values¹ combine with 35-45 kt of bulk shear, which in this timeframe certainly indicates the potential for organized thunderstorms with, at a minimum, the potential for large hail. Ultimately we’ll simply have to wait until later in the weekend for clarifying details on what this system early next week will entail.

It’s getting to be a tiring summer to be the weather messenger, with every tiny stretch of nice weather being cut short by the looming news of more thunderstorms. It’s been an incredibly active summer over Southern Manitoba, and one can only hope that we transition into a pattern of more stable, drier weather in the coming weeks.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 26°C while the seasonal overnight low is 13°C.