Arctic Grip Loosens in Southern Manitoba

After weeks of bitterly cold weather over the Prairies, warmer weather finally returns to the region.

The shift back to warmer weather is driven by a large-scale pattern change pushing the Arctic Vortex eastwards. The lobe responsible for our extreme cold is on the way out, allowing milder Pacific to spread into the Prairies. As this is part of a large-scale pattern change, the warmer temperatures will be longer-lived; Winnipeg will have seasonal to seasonably mild highs right through the weekend.

RDPS 2m Temperature Forecast valid 21Z Tuesday January 11, 2022
Significantly milder temperatures than seen over the past couple weeks will spread across the southern Prairies today.

A warm front will push across the Red River Valley today, ushering in significantly warmer temperatures. Highs across the Red River Valley will climb above -10 °C today, ranging from -7 °C near Lake Winnipeg to close to freezing near the western escarpment of the valley. A cold front will slump southwards tonight and send lows into the -15 to -20 °C range.

After this, a broad frontal zone will set up roughly northwest-southeast through Manitoba. Winnipeg will see highs generally around -10 °C through the rest of the week, though may wobble slightly warmer or colder as weak impulses slide through in the northwest flow. Overnight lows will also vary from close to -10 °C when cloudy to around -20 °C when skies clear.

RDPS 84hr. Accumulated Snowfall Forecast (10:1 SLR) valid 00Z Saturday January 15, 2022
Winnipeg could see close to 5 cm of snow by the end of Friday while western/southwestern Manitoba sees the brunt of snow with a widespread 10–15 cm through the rest of the week.

The region will see a bit of sun this afternoon, but then the rest of the week will bring mainly cloudy skies as the frontal boundary stalls over the region. Occasional disturbances will slide through the region, bringing waves of light snow with them. Accumulations will generally be light, but with light snow possible every 36 hours or so, it could gradually add up to something worth shovelling.

Long Range Outlook

Colder temperatures will return to the region next week. A cold front will slump through the region on Sunday bringing some more snow to the region and sending temperatures into a period of seasonably cool values. Highs next week will drop into the -15 to -20 °C range with overnight lows dipping into the mid-minus 20s.

Today’s seasonal daytime high in Winnipeg is -13 °C while the seasonal overnight low is -24 °C.

Brad

Brad lives in Winnipeg with his wife and two children and is the founder of A Weather Moment. He has loved weather from a very young age and has followed that passion through his life so far. He received a B.Sc. in Earth Sciences with Specialization in Atmospheric Sciences and is currently employed in the field of meteorology. You can find the author as WeatherInThePeg on Mastodon.

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