PembinaValleyOnline News

An icy, slippery and blustery Friday is in store as the impacts of the Colorado low which arrived yesterday continue to linger across Southern Manitoba. Northwesterly wind gusts up to 60 km/h are expected throughout today, alongside light snow, meaning blowing snow and reduced visibility will be a factor.

As of Friday morning, on your Sun Valley Tire Road Report, highways throughout the Pembina and Red River Valleys are partly ice or ice covered, with blowing and drifting snow.

Rain, snow and windy conditions are all in the forecast today as the impacts from a Colorado low moving through the province are felt. Environment Canada has continued the Special Weather Statement for all of Southern Manitoba.

The Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) hosts learning tours in the many countries they serve, hoping to send out a team at least once a year.  They are now trying to accommodate two tours each year.

The first for 2024 is a learning tour to the country of Nepal, where ten Canadians will travel through Dubai to arrive in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal on Saturday, February 10th to spend the next two weeks travelling to various rural communities to learn first-hand what those projects are all about.

After more than a week of well above average temperatures, and generally cloudy, damp and foggy conditions, it appears our mid-winter break from winter is nearing an end.

A mild, Pacific air mass continued to give record warm temperatures to Manitoba on Wednesday, with the warmest January 31st in decades at some locations. Environment Canada recorded  two dozen new daytime high records yesterday, with Winkler and Morden being two of the highest temperatures in the province.

For the second consecutive day, new daytime high records were set across the province, with Environment Canada reporting 16 new all-time highs for January 30th, including many in Southern Manitoba.

Wednesday's police activity in Morden is connected to another series of busts made on the same day in the province's capital city.

Two people were taken into custody by Morden police after officers, including the Regional Support Tactical Team, executed a pair of drug search warrants yesterday - one on Rampton Street and a second on Autumnwood Crescent.

Winnipeg Police Service's (WPS) Drug Enforcement Team, along with its Tactical Support Team, then executed a trio of search warrants on three homes and vehicles in that city, bringing another three people into custody. 

Weapons, illicit drugs and drug trafficking paraphernalia have been taken off the streets following a weeks-long joint force operation between the Altona, Morden and Winkler police services. Project Hat Trick ran from November 1, 2023, to December 23, 2023.

The coldest weather of the winter, so far, is arriving over the course of the next day or so with bitterly cold, Arctic air descending across much of the Prairies, including Southern Manitoba.

Environment Canada has issued one of the first Extreme Cold Warnings of the season for our region. 

"An arctic air mass continues to bring dangerously cold temperatures to the region," stated the Warning issued mid-afternoon Saturday. "The extreme cold, combined with winds of 15 to 30 km/h, will result in wind chill values ranging from -40 to -55 at times over the coming days."

Travel Saturday morning, and potentially into the afternoon hours, will be impacted by reduce visibility in blowing snow across the Pembina and Red River Valley.

"The combination of snowfall coming from a trough of low pressure and strong wind gusts throughout the region have led to this morning's conditions," explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "The light snow is expected throughout the day, with northwesterly gusts of 50 km/h, or a little more, likely into the late afternoon hours before diminishing Saturday evening."