Second March Snowstorm Comes to a Close

Winnipeg this morning. By Bill Petrie

     Another day, another storm to add to our list of major snowstorms of winter 2012/2013.

     A Montana Low moved through the Dakotas last night pushing moderate snowfall into southern Manitoba. Gusty south/southeast winds on Sunday afternoon were replaced by strong northerly winds on Monday morning creating widespread blowing snow and blizzard conditions across the Red River Valley throughout the day Monday. Conditions were worst in the southern RRV as the northerly winds funneled up the valley. They were sustained between 50 and 60 km/h and gusted nearly 70 km/h.

     Snowfall totals for the system were surprisingly quite uniform across southern Manitoba with amounts generally between 10 and 17 cm. I've prepared a map of snowfall totals:

Snowfall amounts courtesy of Environment Canada and Rob's Blog

     In addition, you may look at a table-version here if you prefer that over the map.

     After a general 13-17 cm in Winnipeg, the official snow depth in the city stands at 58 cm (in Charleswood) for today. This is the 3rd deepest snow pack on March 18 since daily snow depth keeping began in the city in 1955.

5 deepest snow packs on March 18
Rank	Year	Snow depth
1	1956	76 cm
2	1955	69 cm
3	2013	58 cm
4 4	1967	48 cm
	1997	48 cm

     About 35.4 cm of snowfall has now fallen for the month of March in the city, already about 20 cm above normal for the entire month. This puts March 2013 as the 22nd snowiest March so far with still 2 weeks left.

     Since October, 159 cm of snow has fallen on Winnipeg. That's more than 40 cm more than what we would normally get in an entire season (October to May). So far that puts this Oct 1 to March 31 period as the 13th snowiest on record since 1872 with still 2 weeks to go.

15 snowiest Oct 1 to Mar 31 period
Rank	Year	Snowfall
1	1955/56	249.8 cm
2	1915/16	213.4 cm
3	1919/20	210.8 cm
4	1909/10	179.8 cm
5	1935/36	175.4 cm
6	1965/66	171.4 cm
7	1893/94	168.1 cm
8	1920/21	167.8 cm
9	1903/04	166.1 cm
10	1933/34	164.4 cm
11	1996/97	162.8 cm
12	1906/07	162.3 cm
13	2012/13	159.4 cm
14	2005/06	157.6 cm
15	1922/23	156.6 cm

*2012/13 amount is preliminary*

     I will update this table in the March summary at the end of the month.

     Cold weather is set to continue through the entire week with daytime highs 10 to 15 degrees colder than normal Tuesday and Wednesday. Temperatures are expected to begin moderating by the weekend, but only to more seasonably cool values.