While a good portion of the summer was dry, the latter part of August and the first half of September have been a different story. Several big storms over the past 4 weeks have dumped large amounts of water all across the region, with each one seeming to select a different spot to feel its wrath.
Sunday night, several parts of Southern Manitoba experienced late-season severe thunderstorm activity once again, and a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for several hours in Portage la Prairie. In the end, the city did see some lightning, but rainfall amounts were quite low within Portage when it was all said and done.
"As we get deeper into September, the more out of character for the season it is to see the conditions necessary for severe thunderstorm development," explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "Moisture, instability, shear and a trigger are what you need, and we had all of that Sunday. A warm and very moist airmass was in place over the region, with some atmospheric wind shear in place. The trigger was a warm front lifting northward out of North Dakota. The system, which impacted the area, also spawned several tornado reports in central North Dakota late Sunday afternoon and early evening."
Severe Thunderstorm Watches were actually issued for most of the Central Plains and Pembina Valley region around 8pm, with Warnings issued closer to 9pm within several municipalities.
"Right around 9 pm, we saw a line of severe thunderstorms extend across the south," he noted. "The thunderstorm cells were relatively fast-moving and not very large in size, and we can see that in the reports this morning with limited rainfall totals."
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The following totals are for Sunday, September 15th and are courtesy of the Manitoba Ag Weather Network:
Birtle - 30.7mm
Alonsa - 23.7mm
Austin - 18.4mm
Plumas - 17.3mm
Snowflake - 13.5mm
Neepawa - 12.5mm
Treherne - 12.4mm
Manitou - 10.7mm (just over 4/10)
St. Claude - 6.2mm
Carman - 4.7mm
Cartwright - 3.7mm
Portage - less than 1mm
25mm = 1 inch
More Summer to come?
According to Sumner, the Summer-like conditions will continue Monday and Tuesday with that same warm and humid airmass in place as atmospheric riding remains over the region, keeping the jet stream north of our area.
"The unsettled conditions will also continue today, tonight and into Tuesday," he said. "Another approaching low pressure system may provide the trigger for additional thunderstorm development Monday afternoon and evening. There also is the risk of severe thunderstorms Monday afternoon and evening, too."
Temperatures will remain above average for this time of year, with daytime highs Monday and Tuesday between 23 and 25 degrees. 18 degrees is the normal for the point in the month. Factoring in the humidity, it will feel like 30 to 32 Monday and Tuesday.
"The upper ridge that's been place over the area will start to breakdown and move eastward Wednesday, and that will mean a return to seasonal conditions for the back half of the week," he said. "Also, I am keeping an eye on an upper level low pressure system which is showing up in the forecast models which could bring several rounds of rainfall to Southern Manitoba during the Wednesday night through Friday night timeframe."
with files from PembinaValley.com