Tag: Below-Normal Temperatures

Calm & Cool Conditions Ahead

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The weather will be cool and quiet across the Red River Valley through the remainder of the work week.

Winnipeg and the Red River Valley will be wedged between a ridge of high pressure anchored over western Manitoba and a train of low pressure systems moving into Northern Ontario. While it appeared earlier in the week that some precipitation associated with the low pressure systems would work its way westward into the Red River Valley from Ontario, more recent model runs have been producing a more sensible solution that keeps everything off to the east.

That said, Winnipeg & the Red River Valley will see cloud cover associated with these systems. Today will be the cloudiest of the next three with much of the day seeing mainly cloudy skies. Skies will progress to mixed on Thursday, and then we’ll finally see straight sunshine again on Friday.

The current weather pattern is bringing below-normal temperatures to a large swath of North America.

Temperatures will remain cool, though, as the ridge and low pattern maintain a northerly flow over the region that continues to tap a cooler air mass to the north. The high temperature both today and tomorrow will hover near 6 or 7°C, with low temperatures near -5 or -6°C both Wednesday night and Thursday night. Friday may end up slightly warmer with a high near 8 or 9°C, but don’t expect anything too far removed from today or tomorrow.

The wind will continue to be quite breezy today, up to around 30 gusting to 50 km/h. They will persist until this evening, when they’ll diminish for the night, then make a reappearance for Thursday. Winds will be much lighter on Friday.

Long Range

This weekend will bring more of the same, except slightly warmer. Temperatures should edge towards more seasonal values under fairly sunny skies, although Saturday may end up more mixed than sunny.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 14°C while the seasonal overnight low is 1°C.

A Brief Early-Week Cooldown

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A cold front passing through the region this evening will bring the chance for some flurries this evening and return temperatures well below seasonal…for one day. Milder weather quickly returns for the remainder of the week on Wednesday.

Today will be a fairly sunny day with the Red River Valley still in the warm-sector of a major low pressure system bringing blizzard conditions to portions of northern Manitoba. Temperatures will be mild with daytime highs generally around the 4-6°C, bolstered by westerly winds at 20-30 km/h.

Things will change this evening when a cold front sweeps through the Red River Valley, bringing a chance of flurries and gusty northwesterly winds to 30-40 km/h. Temperatures will drop to around -5°C within a few hours, and then continue on to an overnight low near -13°C. Winds should taper off to around 20 km/h by midnight and remain there for the rest of the night. Skies will clear out fairly quickly behind the front.

Tuesday will see a large ridge of high pressure build into the region, bringing mainly sunny skies and winds that gradually taper off. Temperatures will be cool with daytime highs near -7°C. The northerly winds will taper off in the afternoon and then temperatures will head down to a low near -14°C overnight.

An Arctic ridge will be in place over Manitoba on Tuesday, bringing below-seasonal temperatures.

Wednesday will start off cool, but warm up through the day as a southerly wind to 30-40 km/h develops ahead of an approaching low pressure system. Daytime highs across the Red River Valley will be near 0°C as cloudy skies develop later in the afternoon. With windy conditions and warm air continuing to push eastwards overnight, temperatures will remain mild with lows near -2 to -4°C on Wednesday night. As the warm front moves through, there will be a chance for some precipitation, which could end up as anything from rain to snow or freezing rain.

Long Range

The remainder of the week looks mild with daytime highs above 0°C and generally settled conditions.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 1°C while the seasonal overnight low is -10°C.

A Quiet, Unseasonably Cold Weekend Ahead

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There’s not too much to say about the upcoming weekend, which is a bit of relief after the relentless storm earlier this week. Below-normal temperatures and sunny skies ahead.

Temperatures over the coming few days will be well below normal due to a rather potent Arctic ridge entrenched over the region. The upside to the colder weather is that we’ll see plenty of sunshine for the next couple days before some cloud, and warmer temperatures, moves in for Sunday.

The Arctic ridge over the Prairies will keep temperatures well below normal across a vast swath of Canada.

So for both today & tomorrow, expect highs near -15 to -13°C, with overnight lows in the -20 to -25°C range. Skies will be sunny today, but more mixed tomorrow as some cloud cover moves in from the west ahead of the next disturbance that will clip across southeastern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba.

The bigger change will come on Sunday as the disturbance clips through the region. Skies will be mainly cloudy, although it should be noted that Winnipeg may see a little more sunshine if the system edges just a little bit southwards or more cloud if it tracks a bit further north. Temperatures will also warm up a tad with highs climbing towards the -10°C mark but lows will still be quite cool on Sunday night, bottoming out near -19°C.

Long Range

While a few weak clipper systems are expected to pass over southwestern Manitoba over the coming week, it looks to remain fairly dry here in the Red River Valley. Temperatures will move towards seasonal to above-seasonal mid-week, and with that shift to warmer weather we may see a bit of precipitation, but at this point it’s simply too early to tell.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently -3°C while the seasonal overnight low is -13°C.

Wild Winter Storm Winds Down

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Residents of southern Manitoba can breathe a sigh of relief as conditions begin to improve as the major winter storm that has been hammering the province begins to move off into the Arctic.

Today will bring relief to southern Manitoba as the strong westerly to northwesterly winds in place over the region begin to subside. These winds have created havoc over southwestern Manitoba where some of the worst blizzard conditions in recent memory developed on Monday and persisted throughout the day and into the night on Tuesday. Brandon saw blizzard conditions begin around 5PM on Monday evening and persist all through Tuesday. Numerous motorists had to be rescued from area highways, despite significant notice of extremely poor conditions being given in advance of this storm by Environment Canada.1

This winter storm was driven by a powerful low pressure system that stretched all the way from Western Saskatchewan to Labrador on Tuesday evening.

Winds will subside through the day from around 50 gusting 70 km/h this morning to 30 gusting 50 km/h around midday as the low pushes off to the northeast, allowing the pressure gradient to begin to slacken over the southern portion of the province. While the winds will still be a bit gusty, they should be low enough for visibilities to improve. Temperatures will be cool, however, with a high temperature of just -10°C. Skies will start the day cloudy but break up to more of a mix in the morning.

Skies will be partly cloudy tonight as temperatures drop to a chilly -20°C.

A ridge of high pressure will push into Manitoba from the northwest, ushering colder temperatures into the province.

Thursday will see much colder air pushing into the province as a ridge of high pressure builds into the region. Temperatures will struggle to recover much through the day with highs expected to climb only to around the -17°C mark. This is nearly 15°C below normal for this time of year. Winds will be out of the northwest at around 20-30 km/h under partly cloudy skies. Temperatures will drop even further below normal on Thursday night with lows dipping down to around -27°C under clear skies with light winds.

Friday will be a cool and sunny day with little wind. Highs will be around -17 or -16°C with a low on Friday night near -21°C.

Long Range

The below-normal temperatures will continue through the weekend and into the beginning of next week, although there will be a gradual climb towards near-seasonal conditions. No significant snowfall is expected for Winnipeg the next 7 days.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently -3°C while the seasonal overnight low is -13°C.

  1. Environment Canada issued several special weather statements regarding the storm as well as blizzard warnings well in advance of the storm’s onset. ↩