Tag: Upper-Level Ridge

Summer-Like Weather Finally Arrives in Winnipeg

Brad Leave a comment

The remainder of the work week will feature plenty of sunshine and a stark break from the cooler temperatures of late as daytime highs climb into the mid- to upper-20’s.

The next few days will bring dry, warm conditions to Winnipeg & the Red River Valley courtesy an upper-level ridge building eastwards across the Prairies. This weather feature will keep the clouds away and push daytime highs above-seasonal values as warmer air is drawn northwards out of the United States.

An upper-level ridge will be building into the Prairies today and tomorrow.

As a result, Winnipeg will see sunny skies today and tomorrow with daytime highs near 24 and 27°C respectively. The upper ridge will move east of the Red River Valley on Friday, and a disturbance will begin moving towards the province out of southern Alberta. Friday will still be quite pleasant, however, with partly cloudy skies and a high near 25°C.

The above-normal 500mb heights (red) will result in seasonably warm temperatures for Winnipeg

Winds will be out of the west today at 10-20 km/h, calm on Thursday, and strengthen out of the southeast to 20-30 km/h on Friday afternoon.

Expect overnight lows around 10-12°C the next few nights.

Long Range

At this point, it seems quite likely that a low pressure system will move through late overnight on Friday into early Saturday morning. This system may end up being the first organized nocturnal thunderstorm event of the season, and would likely move into Winnipeg & much of the Red River Valley on Saturday morning. Whether or not there end up being thunderstorms, rain is definitely likely with anywhere from 5-20 mm possible as it moves through.

There’s uncertainty in how quickly this system will clear out, so Saturday may end up remaining fairly cloudy, or we may see sunshine build back into the region in the afternoon. Sunday will likely bring mixed skies to the region again. Both days look to bring highs around 20°C to Winnipeg and lows near 10°C.

After the weekend, Winnipeg should see a couple more dry days before another chance for unsettled conditions mid-week.

Winnipeg’s seasonal daytime high is currently 22°C while the seasonal overnight low is 9°C.

Summer Heat Wave Building In

Scott Leave a comment

A summer heat wave is on the way as a strong upper ridge builds over the Prairies. Winnipeg will likely see 30°C at least once by mid-week.

Monday

Today will feature increasingly cloudiness through the day as convective clouds develop with daytime heating. We may see a few showers or thunderstorms develop as these convective clouds grow, but any storms will be non-severe. Other than the chance of a shower, it will be a pleasant day with highs in the mid twenties and light northerly winds.

Tuesday

Tuesday will be one of the warmest days we’ve seen in a awhile as high temperatures climb up to the 30C mark in much of southern Manitoba. Skies will be mainly sunny and winds will be breezy from the south. It appears that the humidity will increase somewhat with the push of warmer air, but not too oppressive levels.

An upper ridge over western North America will bring warm weather to southern Manitoba this week
An upper ridge over western North America will bring warm weather to southern Manitoba this week

Wednesday

Wednesday should be the warmest day of the week with high temperatures climbing into the low thirties. Some weather models even suggest we may reach the mid thirties, but that remains to be seen. Humidity levels should edge up further on Wednesday, to uncomfortable levels. Humidex values will likely be near 40 in most areas by late afternoon. This higher humidity will also help to create a risk of thunderstorms on Wednesday. At this point it appears severe storms will be possible, but we’ll provide another update as the risk gets closer.

Long Range

The long range forecast suggests we’ll continue to see frequent periods of hot weather through mid August. However, it doesn’t look like the hot weather will be in place continuously, with frequent surges of cooler air breaking up warmer periods. The long range forecast also shows a fairly active storm track through our region, so there will likely be a fairly frequent risk of thunderstorms and precipitation over the next while.