It appears not only was Tuesday’s wet weather an unusual for this time of year, it also appears it may be a record setter in a number of locations.
“Based on Environment Canada historical data, it’s likely many locations in the Red River Valley and Southeastern Manitoba will set single day rainfall totals for November 19th,” said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. “Yes, it's happened periodically in the past to have a shower roll through this late in the season, but it is exceptionally rare to have the necessary weather conditions at this point in the year to produce the amount of rainfall we received.”
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According to Sumner, Tuesday’s precipitation came courtesy of a moisture packed Texas low which pushed northward out of the United States, and essentially merged with another area of low pressure that originated from the Pacific coast that arrived in Southeast Saskatchewan and Southern Manitoba at pretty much the same time.
“The initial forecasts of the Red River Valley and Southeastern Manitoba seeing rainfall for most of the day held true, with the snow/rain line landing pretty much along the Manitoba escarpment,” he added. “Areas west of that saw wet snow and snow develop late Tuesday morning as colder air was pulled into the west side of the system the soonest. It wasn’t until late Tuesday afternoon and early evening that regions further east saw the first snowflakes from this system as it slowly progressed eastward.”
The rainfall totals below are courtesy PembinaValleyOnline Rainwatchers, Environment Canada and the Manitoba Ag Weather Network and are for November 19th, 2024 through 7 p.m. (which is when most areas had transitioned from rain to wet snow or snow south of the TransCanada highway).
Altona – 25mm
Rosenfeld – 24.8mm
Sprague – 23.5mm
Reinland – 23.4mm
Morris – 22.6mm (9/10)
Dominion City – 22.2mm
Elm Creek – 21.3mm
Morden (in city) - 21mm
Winker (south of city) – 20.4mm
Steinbach – 20.3mm (8/10)
Kane 18.6mm
Jordan – 17.5mm
Carman – 16.4mm
Manitou – 15.1mm (7/10)
Clearwater – 13.1mm
Morden (two miles south) - 5.0mm
25mm = 1 inch
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The following are the current records for rainfall on November 19th, with the data courtesy Environment Canada.
Sprague – 8.6mm (set in 1934)
Emerson – 6.0mm (set in 1982)
Pilot Mound – 5.8mm (set in 1934)
Winnipeg (airport) – 2.1mm (set in 1982)
Carman – 2.0mm (set in 1982)
Gretna – 0.6mm (set in 2004)
Morden – no measurable rainfall recorded at AAFC site on November 19th
After snowfall Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, the Red River Valley and Southeastern Manitoba will see some additional snowfall throughout Wednesday, with gusty northwesterly winds leading to blowing snow and reduced visibility.