The end of the month is Monday, and it looks like the last few days of it may feature a return to winter like conditions.
With Snowfall Warnings now in place for much of Southern and Central Manitoba, it appears sleds and toboggans will be getting more use than bicycles at the beginning of Spring Break. Environment Canada has issued Snowfall Warnings in the Central Plains and south-central regions of Manitoba along with all of the Interlake and Parkland areas. Currently, places like Brandon, Pilot Mound, Morden, Winkler, Altona and the Morris regions are not within the Warning area, but accumulating snowfall is still expected starting tonight and lasting through Friday.
"We are all systems go for a spring snowstorm to impact a significant portion of the province over the next 36 to 48 hours," said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "The general track of this Alberta clipper remains along the Yellowhead Highways corridor from northwest Alberta, slicing across the Prairies and exiting Manitoba in the Whiteshell area sometime early Saturday morning. For some areas of Manitoba, this may be the largest single snow event of this Winter/Spring season."
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According to Environment Canada, 15 to 25cms is possible for most of the Snowfall Warning areas, with lesser amounts south of the Trans Canada highway. The hardest hit areas to the north could receive up to 30cms.
"I will stress any changes in how this system crosses the province, will impact those estimated snowfall totals. If it ends up slumping further south, we could see higher accumulations in certain areas. If it trends even slightly further north, our region could see much less."
For those driving south, ahead of the snow developing Thursday night, there is a risk of freezing rain for areas near the U.S. border.
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The snow isn't the only factor to keep in mind with this system, because visibility will be significantly reduced due to heavy snowfall and localized blowing snow, as northeasterly winds gust up to 60 km/h beginning tonight and continuing through Friday.
"You add all this up, and heading into Spring break on Friday travel conditions will be difficult, at best, across large swaths of Southern Manitoba, and unlikely in the most impacted areas with the highest snowfall rates," said Sumner. "Those less than ideal travel conditions will last throughout Friday and into Saturday morning."
The snow will taper off overnight Friday into the early morning hours of Saturday, with cooler than average temperatures expected for the weekend.
"Surface high pressure will build behind this system as it exits our area," he noted. "That will allow a cooler airmass from the north to descend over the region, with daytime highs up to ten degrees below average for the end of March on Saturday and Sunday."
Right now, the forecast shows highs around -6 for both days, with +4 the usual high for the end of the month.