Winnipeg Finally Breaks the Freezing Mark Barrier

     Winnipeg airport finally exceeded the freezing mark today with temperatures reaching +2°C as of 3 PM. This ends a 76-consecutive day streak from January 11 to March 27 with temperatures not reaching the freezing mark, the 20th longest streak since records began in 1872.

     The 10 longest streaks are as follows:

     Although this has been a fairly cold March in the city, this March likely wont even make it into the top 25 coldest Marches. There were several colder Marches in the late 1800's.

     However, in Brandon this March is on track to be among the top 10 coldest Marches on record for the city, with records going back to 1890.

     I will have all the finalized stats in my March summary on Sunday or Monday (most likely Monday).

     This milder stretch of temperatures will continue until Saturday. A cool down is expected to begin Saturday night with very chilly conditions expected to begin next week. Will have updates throughout the weekend.

     Happy Easter and enjoy your long weekend everyone!

Remaining Cooler Than Normal, But It's a Little More Bearable

     It will be a fairly cloudy day today in southern Manitoba with a few light flurries here and there. They wont accumulate to much at all. There wont be as much melting today thanks to this lack of sunshine. Highs will reach between -2 and -4°C around Winnipeg. Tonight, cloud cover will keep us a little milder, similar to this morning.

     Skies will gradually clear through the day on Monday with highs between -3°C and -5°C around the city.

The melt begins

     Tuesday morning will be a chilly one with lows in the low minus teens expected (between -16 and -19°C). Temperatures will rebound nicely into the high minus single digits in the afternoon, and likely reach or exceed the freezing mark within city limits where the sunshine and light winds will favour another urban heat island scenario.

     The rest of the week looks mainly pleasant with no major systems expected (although there may be some flurries at times) and temperatures flirting with the freezing mark. In fact, there's a good chance that we'll finally have a stretch of temperatures at or slightly above freezing late week and next weekend. This would break the now 72-consecutive day stretch without reaching the freezing mark. By the way, as you can see in the table below, this streak is nowhere near record breaking. The longest streak of below zero highs was 108 days, between Nov 9 1996 and Feb 24 1997.

      Our streak of 72 days right now is currently 21st longest. We will likely sneak into 20th place which stands at 75 days and perhaps 19th which stands at 78 days, depending on how much longer our streak lasts.

No Above Normal Temperatures in Sight

     Another night in the -20's is expected tonight for all of southern Manitoba. In fact, some places may get darn close to -30°C in parts of southwestern Manitoba with lows expected in the low minus twenties.

     Tomorrow will again be similar to yesterday and today; only difference is that winds will be light and temperatures will be just a couple degrees milder. Friday, we'll start off in the -20's yet again and the afternoon will be fairly sunny for eastern areas and more of a mix of sun and cloud in western areas of Manitoba. Luckily for us, an Alberta Clipper will be stalling and dissipating over Saskatchewan thanks to the ridge of high pressure over Manitoba keeping the storm at bay. We may get a few flurries late in the day Friday in western areas and on Saturday for eastern areas, but they will remain light and minimal.

     This cold and dry airmass will not be moving much at all over the next week. As a result, no major storms are expected in the next 10 days. Daytime highs will remain in the minus single digits until at least the beginning of next week. We may get some highs close to the freezing mark next week, but they wont get very far above it. At this point, any change in the weather pattern is just too far away for specifics.

     Normal highs in the next 7 days range between +1°C and +3°C in Winnipeg and normal lows between -6°C and -8°C (using 1981-2010 normals).