What can we say about Tuesday? A burst of Summer weather in the middle of September. Lots of sunshine and heat had a lot of people thinking it was the middle of July! It looked like a lot of people were trying to take advantage of it, with bike and walking paths full last night, and the odd lawnmower going, too. Fall officially arrives according to the calendar this weekend however shorts and t-shirts were common yesterday.
"The question, I'm sure, a few folks are asking this morning is, how warm did it get," said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner Wednesday. "In short, really warm for this time of year, but for the most part, not record-breaking in most locations. Let's set the stage first with the fact our average daytime highs for this time of year are around 17/18, meaning most locations yesterday were more than 10 degrees warmer than normal. With that said, even reaching 30 wasn't quite enough to establish new records in most areas."
The following daytime highs are courtesy of Environment Canada and the Manitoba Ag Weather Network.
Gretna - 30.5
Morden - 30.0
Carman - 29.9
Morris - 29.6
Winnipeg - 29.5 (airport)
Elm Creek - 29.3
Stonewall - 28.9
Pilot Mound - 28.7
Portage la Prairie - 28.5
Melita - 27.9
Steinbach - 27.7
Brandon/Manitou/Wawanesa - 27.6
Killarney - 27.4
Gimli - 27.3
Boissevain/Virden - 26.8
Looking at the forecast, it appears the really warm weather is behind us.
"It is, but we are still expecting temperatures to remain above average for the next few days, at least until we see the impacts of an upper-level low-pressure system in the coming days which could lead to periodic rainfall Thursday night through Saturday," explained Sumner. "We're still expecting that upper level low to push northward, out of the U.S. Rockies, and impact southern Manitoba Thursday night through Saturday night. Ample moisture aloft will be tapped into while this system interacts with the other atmospheric features over our region. How that system tracks, and how those multiple waves of precipitation come off it, is still quite uncertain."
He added it does seem likely most of Southern Manitoba will see some precipitation at some point Thursday night through Saturday, but how much and for how long is still unclear.
"Having an umbrella ready for the last half of the week would be a good idea, but whether you'll be sending the kids to school with it Friday, or needing Saturday, that is still a question mark."
Meanwhile, the long-range forecast for the remainder of the month is looking pretty good.
"The long-range forecast models are still favouring above average temperatures through the end of the month, as we see a southerly to westerly flow continue next week, keeping a warmer airmass over us," he said. "Low 20s seem likely for the final week of September, which would be several degrees above average for that point in the month."
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