A persistent northerly wind gusting to 70 km/h along with fresh falling snow is producing poor driving conditions throughout much of Southern Manitoba.
PembinaValleyOnline.com has received numerous reports of vehicles in the ditch, as well as a multi-vehicle accident on Highway 14 just west of Plum Coulee.
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Bill Klassen of Bill Klassen Auctioners called the newsroom around 5:45 pm.
"I'm on Hwy. 3 heading South home, between Sanford and Brunkild, and visibility at most times is 0 to 100 feet, depending on what kind of shelter we have on the West. And it's severe, so if anybody thinks of going out for Valentine's, maybe cancel it till tomorrow.
A strong cold front moving through the province today, coupled with some light snow, has put us in the position of significant blowing snow and reduced visibility," said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner early Tuesday evening. "The snowfall comes courtesy of the outermost edges of a strong low that's moving through the Dakotas and Minnesota bringing much heavier precipitation to those regions."
Closer to home, northwesterly gusts up to 70 km/h began late in the afternoon, and are expected to continue well into the evening and overnight hours to Wednesday.
"Winds will remain gusty well into Wednesday morning, albeit with a return to sunny conditions as high pressure builds into the area," added Sumner. "We can expect reduced visibility to be a concern into the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday before the wind backs off by Wednesday afternoon."
The return to blustery conditions is also bringing with it a return to below-average temperatures, something Southern Manitoba hasn't had for over a week.
"Arctic high pressure is sliding into our area, and with it, a much cooler air mass," he said. "Highs Wednesday and Thursday will be between -13 and -16, that's six to eight degrees below average for this time of year."
The cold weather won't last long, with temperatures expected to break above zero Friday, before settling around seasonal for the weekend.