Environment Canada has issued a Wind Warning Saturday morning for the Pembina and Red River Valleys, including the Morden, Winkler, Altona, Emerson, Morris, Steinbach and Vita regions.
Strong northwesterly gusts up to 90 km/h are expected Saturday morning over these areas.
According to data from the Manitoba Ag Weather Network, a gust of 81km/h was recorded early Saturday morning at Altona; 75km/h at Dominion City; 72km/h at Kane; 71km/h at Gretna and 70km/h at Elm Creek.
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"These winds are coming off the strong Colorado low skirting Southern Manitoba today," explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "That system will continue to move through Minnesota and into Northwestern Ontario today, and along the way, very strong northwesterlies will wrap around the northwest side of the system and impact our region."
Winds are expected to moderate this afternoon, gusting to 60km/h, and ease further this evening.
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Sumner noted, as expected, the main area of precipitation remained outside of this area, but there was some shower and freezing rain activity late Friday night into the early morning hours of Saturday. He added some very light flurries also occurred, essentially trace amounts.
"A cooler air-mass is being ushered into the region by these gusty winds, and temperatures Saturday and Sunday will be a few degrees below average for mid-March," he said. "Highs today and tomorrow will be in the -4 to -6 range, with 0 degrees the average high for this time of the month."
Sumner noted the next system on the agenda is a weak area of low-pressure near the international border is expected to move into Manitoba from Saskatchewan Sunday afternoon and evening. Cloud cover and a chance of flurries are the only expected impacts as it quickly moves through the area.