Cool, unsettled Weekend Ahead.

Southern and central regions of Manitoba can expect a cooler than average weekend alongside unsettled weather and strong winds. The good news is that it will be short lived, find out more below. 

Friday Night: A occluded front will be moving into the region overnight into Saturday, bringing in increasing cloud cover, with cloudy skies. There will likely also be a chance for rain, in areas of central regions by the interlakes. Once the front goes by in the morning, winds will shift to the NW. Of note will be the chance for wind gusts over 60km/h along the Manitoba lakes. Overnight low temperatures will not drop much, in fact they will likely rise before dropping towards the day time. A majority of the region should see overnight lows in the mid single digits (3-5C) with temperatures below zero in the parklands region. Winnipeg: Cloudy, 60% chance of showers overnight, low plus 4C. Brandon: Cloudy, 60% chance of showers Low plus 2C. 

Saturday: A cold front will be moving through southern Manitoba, behind it mainly cloudy skies are expected with a chance for snow for the majority of the region however rain is expected in SE areas of Manitoba before switching over to snow. I’m not expecting it to accumulate much. Only about 2-5cm are expected. Also it will be a extremely windy, winds will be gusting out of the NW at 60km/h with gusts possibly up to 100km/h. Power outages are possible especially in rural regions of the province ,infrastructure especially older power lines with the high wind may result in power outages. Winnipeg has some older power grids which may contribute to possible outages within the city . Have a flashlight handy and canned food at the ready in case of a outage, with a emergency kit. High temperatures during the day time will also plummet, to the low to mid single digits (-1 to -4C), windchills will also drop into the low minus teens (-10 to -14C). Ouch!! Forecast: Winnipeg: Cloudy, snow mixed with rain beginning in the morning changing to snow in the afternoon. Winds 60km/h, gusting to 90 or 100km/h. High 1C falling to -3C in the afternoon. Windchill -12C. Brandon: Cloudy, 40% chance of light snow in the afternoon. Winds 60km/h gusting to 90 or 100km/h. High 0C temperature falling to -3C in the afternoon, windchill -12C.

Saturday Night: Overnight into Sunday , A attic airmass will swing into the region slightly modified making temperatures warmer than it would be in the middle of winter. Clear skies are expected with some cloudcover rolling into the region overnight into the morning hours. Winds will also quiet down shortly after midnight . Low temperatures will drop into the mid to high minus single digits (-5C to -10C). Windchills will drop into the mid minus teens, (-10 to -15C) some areas might see windchills as cold as -18C. Winnipeg: Clear, low -6C, windchill -16C. Brandon: Clear, becoming cloudy in the morning low -5C windchill -14C. 

Sunday: Transition into warmer weather! A warm front will push into the region, bringing a shift to southerly winds towards the evening. Cloudy to partly cloudy skies can be expected in the SE with sunshine in the southwest. This is good news as this will start melting some of the snow on the ground , and will bring back those much needed warmer temperatures. Fake spring ,on the way ??? High temperatures are expected to soar into the low part of the single digits (0 to 5C) in the southeast, and then just west of the red River valley the daytime temperatures into the SW in the mid to high single digits (5 to 8C). Winnipeg: Mainly cloudy, becoming partly cloudy in the evening high plus 3C. Brandon: Partly Cloudy, high 5C. 

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy skies are expected with temperatures dropping below zero, overnight lows will be slightly milder then Saturday night. I’m expecting temperatures to drop to the low minus single digits or slightly above zero (0 to -3C) for the night. Winnipeg: Partly Cloudy low -2C, Brandon: Partly cloudy low -1C.  

The week ahead: A pacific flow will take over the pattern over the week, I’m not sure exactly how warm it will get however models have been consistent with temperatures warming into the mid teens, possibly near 20C. I’ll have a update on Monday! 

-Mike McGregor “the weather specialist”!