Mother Nature has gifted Winnipeg a warm, mostly sun-filled weekend, but we might not be rid of Old Man Winter just yet.
Eric Dykes, a senior meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said Winnipeg is expected to see unseasonably high temperatures this weekend, with a high of 18 C Saturday and 15 C Sunday. City golf courses are open, patios are filling up and it finally feels like real spring, if not pretend summer.
But next week, Dykes warns that dual weather systems — one sweeping down from Alaska and the other a Colorado low — are expected to bring colder tempartures and increasing cloudiness Monday night into Tuesday. On Tuesday, Southern Manitoba is forecast to get around 25 ml of rain, if not more, and thunderstorms are even possible.
On Wednesday, that rain is expected to turn to an undetermined amount of wet snow.
Luckily, Dykes said the white stuff shouldn’t stay on the ground long, as temperatures are expected to rebound by the weekend.
Farther north, it’s a different story.
Places like Flin Flon, Thompson and The Pas could receive between 15 to 30 cm of snow, falling Tuesday night into Friday morning, Dykes said.
He also warns that the significant precipitation, likely in the form of rainfall, could mean bad news for areas like Brandon, where the province issued a flood warning Friday for the Assiniboine River between Shellmouth Dam and Brandon. There, fast snowmelt is leading to high flows in rivers and tributaries.
Meanwhile, in Winnipeg, warm temperatures like those forecast for this weekend haven’t been seen since October 3 — election day — which was the last time we had anything over 18 C, Dykes said.
katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca
Katrina Clarke
Investigative reporter
Katrina Clarke is an investigative reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press.