Much of Southern Manitoba kicked off May Long weekend in a stormy fashion, with Severe Thunderstorm Watches, and a handful of Warnings, in place for nearly the entire region at some point Friday afternoon into the late evening hours.
"A line of thunderstorms and precipitation extending well into Central Manitoba, and as far south as the Dakotas, essentially crossed the area from west to east beginning late Friday afternoon in Western Manitoba, and exiting the province during the early morning hours of Saturday in the Southeastern corner," explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "Thankfully, the storms did not exhibit any rotation, meaning we did not have to deal with any tornado risk like we did in parts of the Red River Valley on Thursday night when Tornado Warnings were issued for the RM's of Morris, De Salaberry, Montcalm and Emerson-Franklin."
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Sumner noted, within the line of precipitation, there were embedded thunderstorms which had higher rainfall rates, and that's why we are seeing some places with significantly higher rainfall totals than others.
The following totals are courtesy PembinaValleyOnline Rainwatchers, Environment Canada and the Manitoba Ag Weather Network and are for Friday, May 17th:
Emerson – 19.7mm (almost 8/10)
Winnipeg (The Forks) – 19.1mm
Portage – 14.9mm (almost 6/10)
Dominion City – 10.9mm
Carman – 8.8mm
Kane – 7.9mm
Rosenfeld/Clearwater – 7.5mm (3/10)
Morris – 7.2mm
Jordan – 7.0mm
Steinbach – 5.9mm
Elm Creek – 5.8mm
Morden – 5.7mm
Reinland - 5.0mm (2/10)
Pilot Mound – 4.3mm
Manitou – 3.1mm
Altona – 2.5mm (1/10)
Gretna – 1.5mm
Winkler – 1.4mm
25mm = 1 inch
"We also saw some pretty strong wind gusts during Friday's thunderstorms as the downdrafts out them made for some brief bursts of wind," added Sumner.
Jordan – 88 km/h
Snowflake – 85 km/h
Baldur – 77 km/h
Windygates/Morris/Brunkild/Holland – 75 km/h
Clearwater – 72 km/h
Winkler – 70 km/h
Morden – 69 km/h
Carman – 63 km/h
Manitou – 60 km/h
Altona – 55 km/h
Steinbach – 46 km/h
Looking ahead to the rest of May Long weekend, the unsettled pattern will continue, at least for Saturday, according to Sumner.
"The low pressure system which caused yesterday's stormy weather is slowly crossing the province Saturday, moving northeasterly toward Hudson Bay," he said. "As it does, winds will shift westerly potentially gusting up to 60 km/h. This low will also continue to bring instability to Southern Manitoba, and that's why we see the chance for showers or thunderstorms throughout the day."
Saturday's daytime highs are expected to land between 15 and 17 degrees.
Behind that low, surface high pressure builds into the area from the northern U.S. plains, and that will lead to a mainly sunny Sunday, with seasonal highs around 19 to 21.
Sumner noted there still continues to be some disagreement regarding what Victoria Day Monday may look like, as yet another low pressure system moving through the Dakotas could lead to shower activity on our side of the border.
"At this point, the forecast models are split on whether the precipitation will stay further south, or not, and there's also some disagreement on just how cool it may get Monday as a northerly flow establishes, pushing a cooler airmass into the region," he said. "Right now, forecast highs for Monday could be anywhere between 16 and 20 degrees, and in order to reach that higher end we will need to see some daytime heating from sunshine."