Wednesday 15 January 2014

Roller Coaster Ride

     The next few days will feature a roller coaster ride in temperatures as well as many opportunities for snow.

     After a low of -27.4°C at Winnipeg airport this morning, temperatures are expected to skyrocket this morning, reaching or even exceeding the freezing mark by afternoon. Right now I don't have any stats on the biggest single-day jumps in temperature, but I may try to gather some for the January summary. Surprisingly, we may even come close to a record high today. Old record is just 2.2°C in 1973.

     Snow will begin this morning and continue until this afternoon. 4-8 cm is expected with this initial wave of snow. Winds will strengthen to south 40 km/h this morning, giving blowing snow and trecherous driving conditions on highways. A brief period of ice pellets or freezing rain is possible this afternoon as the warmer air moves in.

     More snow is expected this evening and tonight, but more on and off in nature, with an additional 1-3 cm possible. Winds from the north-northwest at 50 gusting to 70 km/h will create awful conditions on highways. In addition, plummeting temperatures tomorrow morning will make highways extremely slick. Avoid unnecessary travel tomorrow morning. Winds will weaken slightly tomorrow afternoon and become light tomorrow night. After a high near or above zero today, temperatures tomorrow night will plummet into the -20's.

     We go back up the roller coaster on Friday as another clipper system moves in. Snow is expected to begin in the afternoon and continue in the evening. 2-5 cm is possible. This system does not look as intense as today's. Highs in the mid to high minus single digits are expected.

     At this point, another clipper system is possible for Sunday, but it is unclear right now what impact that will have on Winnipeg.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, this is very rare but E.C. has included the word thunderstorm in it's updated forecast for today....yes indeed there is the chance for thundersnow along the cold front later today.

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    1. Certainly turned into quite the system. Record warmth and winds in Saskatchewan and Alberta, gusts over 120 km/h. Edmonton reached 9°C earlier, breaking the old record of 8.3°C set just last year.

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  2. My bad, the large temperature rise wont be until this afternoon and should begin soon, especially as the winds become more westerly. Will be interesting to see how warm we can get

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  3. Those westerly winds have moved in allowing for a rapid increase in temperatures... rising 6 degrees in 1 hour and 9 degrees in 2 hours! All the way up to 2.2°C at Winnipeg airport as of 6 pm... tying the old record HIGH for today.. we will likely break the record. Who would've thought we'd break a record high after a nearly -30°C start??!! Crazy.
    Even getting some 5's and 6's in the western RRV.

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    1. Actually the high at Winnipeg airport so far as of 6 pm is 3.3°C... therefore we have officially broken a record high today.. Old record 2.2°C in 1973. This is an incredible jump of 31 degrees in just 14-16 hours! Definitely one of the most drastic warmups experienced around here.

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  4. Very tough measure of the snowfall from today. Will have to see what precip amount I got from my cocorahs gauge... the winds swept open areas clean to the point that my snow depth today actually dropped 1 cm from yesterday... but drifts about 10 cm deeper.

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  5. Cold front is fast approaching from the north. Already through Dauphin and is now near Gimli and in the southern basin of Lake Manitoba. A brief band of heavy snow is likely with the front, along with the start of very strong winds from the north. Additional 1-3 cm and locally higher amounts possible tonight.

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    1. Gusts of 80 + km/h in the Portage area behind the front. Front passing through Winnipeg any minute now.

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  6. Peak weak gust at Winnipeg airport of 43 knots yesterday just before midnight... or 80 km/h. That's at the A CS station. On EC's summary they note the max gust was 82 km/h, which must have been from the other airport station.

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