Sunday 15 March 2015

Record-Breaking Weekend

What a weekend this turned out to be in southern Manitoba! Record warmth pushed in on Saturday and remained on Sunday.

Yesterday, widespread records were broken all across southern Manitoba. Winnipeg's high of 13.2°C broke the old record of 11.4°C in 1981. Morden had the most impressive record. With a high of 18.3°C, Morden broke its old record by 7°(11.2°C in 2012)! It was also the earliest reading over 17°C on record since 1904.

Other records on Saturday included:

Community
Saturday’s new record high
Old record
Portage Southport
16.6°C
12.9°C in 1981
Gretna
15.8°C
10.5°C in 2012
Dauphin
15.4°C
12.9°C in 1981
Brandon
15.0°C
12.2°C in 1910
Melita
14.8°C
9.6°C in 2012
Pilot Mound
14.4°C
9.5°C in 2012
Pinawa
13.3°C
11.5°C in 1981
Sprague
12.6°C
12.0°C in 1981

Cloud cover and cooler air moving in in the afternoon today kept our temperatures a little lower. Winnipeg airport only reached 14.3°C, just 0.1°C shy of the old record of 14.4°C in 2012. There was record warmth to our south however. Morden reached 17.6°C this afternoon, breaking the old record of 15.1°C in 2012. Gretna was the hot spot, reaching 18.0°C, breaking its old record of 15.1°C in 2012.

Snow depth in Winnipeg now officially stands at 0 cm as of today. This ties with 1995 for 3rd earliest snow melt on record since 1955. Note that 2012 had the 2nd earliest melt on record with snow depth reaching 0 cm on March 14.
Top 11 earliest snow melts (winter snow pack reaching 0 cm) since 1955

Rank
Date snow depth reached 0 cm
Year (s)
1
February 28
2000
2
March 14
2012
3
March 15
1995, 2015
5
March 17
1981
6
March 18
1973, 2010
8
March 21
1994, 1999
10
March 26
1961, 1984
*Note that snow depth in 1998 did reach 0 cm by February 23... However, snow fell at the end of February, resulting in a new snow pack. For winter snow pack, I am considering any snow pack that begins from fall to February and therefore, the snow melt for 1998 is considered April 1 when snow depth finally reached 0 cm again.

This also means that the answer to the poll was March 15-22. Congratulations to the 7 respondents who answered that out of a total of 47 respondents. Honourable mention to the 1 respondent who answered March 7 to 14 because some parts of the city could have been considered trace cm snow depth yesterday.

9 comments:

  1. Temperatures fell quite quickly last night... The airport's minimum for yesterday was 2.8°C as a result, which just failed to break the old high minimum record of 3.3°C in 1927. Morden's low was 6.4°C, not only a high minimum for the day but also one of the highest daily minimums of all-time for March and the earliest occurrence of a minimum above 5°C on record since 1904.

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  2. Yikes, feeling more like winter than Spring today especially with gusty north wind. But after all it is only March.

    Not liking those weekend temps coming up. Fortunately that looks short lived as we warm nicely again next week.

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    Replies
    1. Not too bad today in my opinion, even with the wind =) Lack of snow and the stronger March sun sure help.

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  3. Record heat has moved into the central Plains today. Widespread highs over 28°C, some over 30°C, in Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa. 33°C in North Platte, Nebraska, breaking an all-time March high (old 31°C) according to The Weather Channel. Omaha has surpassed 30°C, breaking its old record for today by about 4-5°C (old 27°C in 2012 according to NWS). These 30°C highs in Nebraska are a good 20°C above normal for this time of year.

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  4. Yikes, nice blast of winter coming up this weekend. Though I don't think we'll be as cold as the -20C forecast nonetheless highs of -5C or so and lows of -15C likely at the very least which is well below normal and drastically colder than our record setting weekend that just past.
    Fortunately that cold blast looks brief, as mentioned we will rebound quite nicely next week. It then looks colder to end March into early April. The snowpack may be gone but the long range sure doesn't offer alot of hope in terms of a prolonged warm pattern.

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  5. Regina monthly temperature records and associated quality-checks added to the record books.

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  6. Enjoy the next two days because things will be cooling this weekend...

    We will reach high single digits today, likely 8-9°C. Lots of sun and light winds will make it quite pleasant. Even a tad warmer tomorrow, possibly hitting double digits with highs near 9-11°C if we get lots of sunshine. Winds will be increasing late in the day.

    Friday is more uncertain. What is certain is that much colder air will be pushing in with afternoon temperatures in the mid MINUS single digits, some 10-15°C colder than Thursday. The uncertainty lies in the potential for some snow. Most models keep the system well to our south with just a few flurries possible. The NAM and GEM regional are a bit further north giving a few cm for Winnipeg. Will have to wait and see how things trend through tomorrow. Consensus again looks to be for the snow to stay to our south right now.

    Bulk of the cold air passes over Friday night into Saturday. Saturday morning lows will be in the minus teens and afternoon highs in the mid minus single digits. Thankfully, this cold doesn't last too long with some moderation expected for next week.

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    Replies
    1. NAM now more in line with other models, missing us to the south for Friday. Consensus remains that we'll get very little snow here in Winnipeg, if any at all. Just a few flurries possible late tomorrow evening through to Friday midday. A few cm looks possible for extreme southwestern Manitoba.

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  7. Luckily, looks like a miss for Winnipeg tomorrow. Steady snows at times to our south and west tonight into tomorrow. Generally 1-5 cm, but possibly locally 5-10 cm in the extreme southwestern corner of the province around Melita.

    Certainly a colder pattern we're entering in for the remainder of the month, but not extreme cold by any means.

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