We are waking up to a snowy, blowy, sloppy and stormy winter mess Wednesday morning. Winter Storm Warnings remain in effect for the Pilot Mound and Manitou areas, with Special Weather Statements continuing for the Pembina and Red River Valleys.
"The initial forecasts of the Red River Valley and Southeastern Manitoba seeing rainfall for most of Tuesday held true, with the snow/rain line landing pretty much along the Manitoba escarpment," explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "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."
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He added the first flakes in Southeastern Manitoba, and the Winnipeg area, only arrived early Wednesday morning as those regions remained in the warm sector of the system until then. Sumner noted a good portion of the region east of the escarpment had a period of several hours Tuesday night when there was no precipitation as the dry slot associated with this system (an area of drier air typically located near a low pressure system's centre) arrived over parts of Southern Manitoba near the U.S. border.
"That's all over now," he said with a chuckle Wednesday morning. "Snow has been falling in the Pembina and western Red River Valley since late last night, and we will see additional accumulation throughout Wednesday on top of the 3cm to 5cm we've had up until this morning."
According to Environment Canada 10 to 15cm total is possible by tonight.
Road conditions have deteriorated throughout the area, with the majority of highways as of 6:05 a.m. snow and slush covered with poor visibility in blowing snow..
Sumner stressed visibility will be a significant factor today, with gusty northwesterly winds up to 70km/h leading to significant blowing snow and reduced visibility. The wind is expected to diminish, but not until late tonight into Thursday morning. The snow will also taper off this afternoon into the early evening.
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"As this low pressure system moves out of the region, a trough in the jet stream will be developing behind it over the eastern Prairies, and that means a much cooler airmass from Canada's north will sink southward to our area," he said. "Temperatures Thursday through Saturday will be below average for this time of year, which is something we haven't had for quite some time."
As a cold front slides through during the day Thursday, temperatures will drop throughout the day, landing between -7 and -10 by the late afternoon. Highs Friday and Saturday are expected to be between -5 and -8. Averages for this point in November are -3 for daytime highs and -11 for overnight lows.