PembinaValleyOnline News

A very much welcomed round of showers wound through the region late Monday morning into mid-afternoon. The last accumulating rainfall across much of the area came May 20th, and that was only a few millimeters in most cases.

Forest fire smoke is expected to return to the region today, so Environment Canada has issued a Special Air Quality Statement for the Red River Valley and Southeastern Manitoba. Included are places like Morden, Carman, Winkler, Altona, Emerson, Winnipeg, Dominion City, Steinbach and Vita.

Coming out of May Long weekend it was a similar weather theme to the start of it back on Friday; wet and cool.

"We had a very similar weather set-up early morning Tuesday to Tuesday afternoon when a slow-moving upper-level low pushing northward out of the Dakotas brought another round of rainfall to the region," said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "If you happened to take a look at the RADAR imagery Monday morning, it looked almost like a carbon copy of the system we had move through Thursday night into Friday."

For farmers, gardeners and firefighters attacking the wildfires in eastern Manitoba the much needed rain over the last two days was very much welcomed, even if it did mean a soggy start to May Long weekend.

Much needed rainfall has arrived across Southern Manitoba, and for some locations the last 24 hours is the first accumulating precipitation (more than trace to a millimeter) in three to four weeks.

More daytime high records were set Tuesday during the final day of the unusual heat wave which has baked Southern Manitoba since Sunday. 

"With Environment Canada ending the Heat Warnings for the region, yesterday's record setters mark an end to three consecutive days of extremely hot, dry and windy conditions," noted CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "When we look back on this stretch of three days, it will be historical for not only just how warm it was, but also the fact it stayed that warm for that long this early in the season."

The early season heat wave continued Monday, alongside Heat Warnings which remain in effect today, and for the second consecutive day new daytime high records were set in a number of Southern Manitoba communities for May 12th.

Sunday marked the beginning of a several day stretch of what's expected to be record shattering heat in Southern Manitoba, and according to Environment Canada that's exactly what we did yesterday with a number of communities establishing new daytime high marks for May 11th.

The country's first Heat Warnings of the year were issued Saturday afternoon, and they were for parts of Southern Manitoba including the Red River Valley and Southeastern Manitoba, and as far west as the Killarney region.

The Pembina Valley is waking up to a smoky Friday morning, with a plume of forest fire smoke from northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba being pushed into the region.

"Gusty northerly winds are moving that smoky airmass into our area in behind a cold front which moved through earlier today," explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "The smoky conditions won't last long, as winds are forecast to turn southerly Saturday as we enter another stretch of very hot and dry conditions for Mother's Day weekend."