The sun will finally make a reappearance in Winnipeg today as colder weather moves into the region.

Morning cloud cover will give way to sunshine today as the never-ending blanket of stratus cloud finally moves out of the region. The minor cost to finally kicking some of the gloom that’s set in is that temperatures will drop across the region. In Winnipeg, temperatures will hover just below -10 °C today with norhtwest winds steady around 30 km/h.

The winds will ease to around 20 km/h tonight with temperatures dropping close to -20 °C. A bit of lake-effect cloud and snow is possible off of the Manitoba Lakes, so Winnipeg could find itself with mixed skies through the night and perhaps some scattered flurries. Between the wind and the vicinity cloud, it’s unlikely that temperatures will drop much below -20 °C, if at all.

Much colder temperatures will sit just to the west of the Red River Valley; overnight lows in the -25 to -35 °C range will straddle the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border over the next couple nights.

The next couple days in Winnipeg will likely look much the same; cloud drifting into the region from the northwest as it pours off Lake Manitoba in the freeze-up process, possibly with some light snow. Highs will range from just below -10 °C under clearer skies to just over -10 °C under cloudier skies. Overnight lows could be in the -10 to -15 °C range if the band of lake cloud parks itself over the city at night, while it could drop closer to -20 °C if it clears.

Conditions may trend sunnier on Sunday as winds shift more northerly which would shift lake-effect cloud bands out of the Winnipeg area.

Long Range Outlook

Looking ahead, a low pressure system is likely to move through the region Monday night through Tuesday. Dropping down from the northwest, it looks to bring 5 to 10 cm of snow to central Manitoba with amounts diminishing southwards. It will come with a push of colder air, so there is still uncertainty with its track. This system will likely produce a swath of 5 to 15 cm of snow, but whether that occurs through central Manitoba or along a strip from the Parkland through the Red River Valley is unclear at the moment.

Behind this system, a push of colder air will move into southern Manitoba and send temperatures colder through the second half of the week.

Today’s seasonal daytime high in Winnipeg is -6 °C while the seasonal overnight low is -15 °C.