Saturday 7 March 2015

Worst of Winter Finally Behind Us

Lots of sun this morning in the Winnipeg area, but we'll see some increasing cloud for this afternoon. Weak clipper system will bring a few flurries late this afternoon and evening, but little accumulation is expected. Today will be the colder day for the next few days with temperatures remaining below zero.

Clearing early in the morning tomorrow, giving way to a fairly sunny day. We'll likely exceed the freezing mark and reach around 1°C or so. Winds will be light.

Monday looks to be the warmer day. Lots of sunshine and a favourable southwesterly wind will allow for a very mild day. Difficult to say how warm we will get because of the remaining snow pack. I suspect it will be warmer within city limits than over the snow covered fields outside the city and at the airport. Nonetheless, highs between 4 and 7°C are possible. This will allow for significant melting of the snow pack, especially if the abundant sunshine comes true. Locally, highs getting close to the double digits are possible in the traditionally warmer areas near the escarpment southwest of the city.

Remaining mild for the remainder of the week with highs near or above zero. Keep in mind that the quicker we can get rid of the snow pack, the easier it will be to get even warmer temperatures.

No major snowfalls are expected for the next couple weeks.

30 comments:

  1. There are hints of a very warm airmass moving in by next Sunday with highs in the double digits possible.

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    1. Yeah I saw that too. Was going to wait a couple days before announcing it. Very warm air moving in for this time of year certainly. Will be interesting to see how close we can get to 2012 record values next weekend before things cool down.

      You can also really see the snow pack melting away on visible satellite today south of the city. Just goes to show how thin the snow pack really is. Fields might be mostly bare south of the city in just a few days.

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  2. Even here in the city the snowpack should thin out quite rapidly by week's end. Temps across the city have been between 3C and 6C today. Not bad considering the snowpack that still remains. It just goes to show that without snowpack we could be seeing possibly double digit temps right now. Unfortunately that big warm spell for next weekend does not appear like it will last too long but even so, at the very least we go back to normal temps after that which isn't bad either.

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  3. As long as we don't get too much cloud cover, should manage to reach at least 6°C within city limits today.

    I will now update the Winnipeg forecast tab every 2 or 3 days whenever possible.

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    1. Some thicker cloud has moved in, unfortunately during time of peak heating. Not as much melting today as hoped as a result.

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  4. Snow depth down to 14 cm at my place in the south end. A good 4 or 5 cm melt from yesterday in some spots. We wont fall much tonight with temperatures near or above zero for much of the night.

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  5. Which will allow the melting to continue overnight. Love it.

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  6. Got up to 7C at the Airport. Not too shabby considering the snow that still remains. Models may be underestimating the forecast highs over the next few days so it will be interesting how much warmer it becomes this week.

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  7. Got a bit of rain overnight... Didn't measure any accumulation at my place, so just a trace mm. Quite the melt since yesterday with grass now starting to show in my yard. Early visible satellite imagery this morning showing a notable lack of snow now in the Red River Valley. This will allow warmer air to move in more readily in the next few days.

    Sunday continues to look very interesting with near-record high temperatures possible across southern Manitoba. Old record for Winnipeg is 14.4°C back in 2012! Hopefully we get lots of sun or else records may be hard to reach. Not too shabby Saturday neither with highs in the high single digits or possibly cracking the teens, especially in southwestern Manitoba. Unfortunately, we cool down next week but with less snow on the ground, or possibly no snow at all, the cool down wont be as bad as could have been.

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  8. Hi JJ, I apologize about my thinking that there were thunderstorms last night. I guess that the snow mode kind of messed things up on accuweather radar, considering accuweather was portraying it as rain. I am wondering about this cool down next week, how cold could we get? Accuweather is forecasting highs of -6 and -2 next week only on 2 days. I am assuming we'll stay above zero for high temperatures, I just hope we don't get below zero because of this nice weather it is going to feel colder outside. How cold will it get at it's worst? I hate minus temperatures, had them for much of the winter. Thanks JJ. -Mike McG

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    1. There likely will be some below zero high days. Too early to say how cold we'll get exactly, but we're not talking about extreme cold by any means. As far as I can see, generally near to below normal conditions with possibly some warmer days in between.

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  9. Up to 7C again today at the YWG. Not bad. Snowpack really thinning out now. Unfortunately cloud cover over the next couple of days with limit the melting process and how warm we could get.

    I agree. I don't see anything to indicate a major cooldown of any sorts. I suspect it will rather be minimal with some colder days and some warmer but nothing extreme as JJ mentioned. The good news is that there are no indications of any major precip events over the next couple of weeks.

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    1. Snow depth now 5-8 cm or so at my place. Lots of grass showing, including in fields nearby. This week is awfully reminiscent of 2012, even though it isn't nearly as extreme as 2012 was.

      We're also quite close to a record today. Old record 8.3°C in 1902. High at airport was 6.5°C as of 5 pm.

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  10. JJ, would you mind creating a link to my new blog? I would really appreciate more people taking note of it, I did a lot of work on it. Here's the link (Click My Name Too).... michaelmcgregor7.wix.com/southmbweather Thank's much.

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  11. After taking a 2nd look at the long range, i'm not sure I like the 2nd half of March. More cold than warm. So I wouldn't put away the parkas just yet. This nice spell of Springlike weather comes to an end next week.

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  12. Some might say Spring has sprung, but has it really? Not so sure about that.

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    1. Depends on your definition of spring I suppose. The fact the snow pack is close to disappearing is spring enough for me!

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  13. With still a decent amount of snow remaining, more in some areas than in others across the city and with the colder temperatures next week i'm not so sure the snow will be completely gone in a week from now like some are advertising.

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  14. This is certainly a taste of Spring but there's a big difference between a taste of Spring and the real deal. I've heard some compare this spell of warmer weather with 2012. I'm thinking in no way is it comparable. It's not even close to 2012 and nor will it be either.

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    1. I'm not yet convinced the cool down will be as bad as you seem to think. There will be some colder days, but I don't think we're talking about several consecutive -20°C lows here, which to me would be a return to winter. We can still expect some cool downs in spring.

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    2. I don't disagree with that either. But I certainly do not see anything to suggest a prolonged period of warmth either. It actually looks kinda variable over the next while which is probably more typical of this time of year.

      This certainly is not anything like 2012 but after the last 2 years i'd say it's a major improvement. It would be nice to start seeing some of the temps they have been experiencing south of the border in N.D. this week but not sure that will happen other than perhaps Sunday.

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  15. Does anybody know what a weak to moderate El Nino does to weather patterns in summer? I am wondering does it bring hotter and more humid weather here? I'm doing some research on it...

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    1. As far as I'm concerned, I don't think El Niño has major impacts on our summer temperatures in southern Manitoba. It appears there's close to a 50/50 chance of a warmer than normal or colder than normal summer during an El Niño. Moderate El Niño don't necessarily mean a warmer summer here.

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  16. Mild night last night staying above zero. Low of just 0.6°C at the airport. Unfortunately, a rather cloudy day today, but we should still manage to reach high single digits for a high. More sun tomorrow and remaining mild in the mid single digits.

    Then the highlight of this warmup this weekend... Should reach AT LEAST high single digits on Saturday. I do think it is possible we may see our first 10°C of the year if get enough sunshine. Record highs in the mid teens possible on Sunday, again depending on cloud cover.

    Cooler work week next week compared to the weekend, but it looks like we will remain mild.

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  17. Wow, bonus unexpected sunshine again today. That's awesome. May today be the day we crack double digits, not sure but we'll see. The chance is slight however if we can stay under sunshine for next couple of hour or so.

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    1. Old record today is 9.7°C in 2012. Will be interesting to see if we can break that. Some backyard stations have already hit that today.

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    2. Reached 11°C at my place this afternoon so far. Sure feels warm out there!

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  18. By the looks of things, the poll answer may end up being March 15 to 22 or even March 7 to 14. I'm calling snow depth only about 3 cm or so at my place right now. A field nearby my place is almost snow-free (excluding the drifts along north-facing fences). Of course, snow piles from plows and shovelling and drifts in shady areas around the house to me don't count as snow depth as they are artificial.

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  19. High of 8.9°C at the airport today, just shy of the old record of 9.7°C in 2012. Still a chance of breaking records on Saturday and Sunday with old records of 11.4°C in 1981 and 14.4°C in 2012 respectively.

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  20. Picked up a quick 1.1 mm of rain here in the south end earlier this morning. Generally the same through the city. Cloudy start but we should see some sun this afternoon and reach mid to high single digits.

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