Below average Temperatures continue. Snow ahead for Weekend. When Will Spring Bloom??

 Hello and welcome back to my weather blog, we are going full throttle into Spring now with the melt well underway. Interestingly enough though over the last few weeks overall temperatures have been below normal and below the freezing mark, we are still experiencing melting as the spring sun is higher up and is warmer. For those wondering where our spring weather went to, its been hanging around in BC as usual. There unfortunately is a change up in the dry weather pattern expected as a trough begins to develop with low pressure likely to swing through Sunday and will bring us more snowy weather, maybe even some rain mixing in. There are hints at a colorado low ahead for the week. Regardless a unpleasent end to the weekend is likely, lets look at what we can expect as we head into the weekend. This blog will be smaller as were only going to cover into Tuesday. 

Saturday: Today expect sunny to partly cloudy skies as we sit on the east side of high pressure. Winds should remain out of the south quite light. Temperatures ahead of the low pressure system today will rise into the low to mid minus single digits (-1 to -3C) by around 5pm, some areas in the southwest ahead of the low pressure system may rise into the low plus single digits (1 to 3C).

Tonight (Above) there will undoubtedly be increasing clouds as the low pressure system moves in. There is also a threat for freezing rain mainly in southwestern sections of the province as the warm sector interacts with colder air at lower levels this threat will move east through the morning hours. Overnight low temperatures will drop into the mid minus single digits for a large portion of the region (-3 to -6C). 

Sunday (Above): Snow is expected to begin as a low pressure system sits along the international border, snow and blowing snow is more likely in areas of southwestern Manitoba than areas of south central and southeast sections. Areas in the southeast will likely be in a dry slot before a chance at rain and snow develops during the afternoon hours as the warm sector sits over southeastern areas. However there will be a good chance of heavy snow in the interlake regions during the day. A transition to snow should occur in the early evening hours. It appears the heavier snow will fall in southwest and western, interlake portions of Manitoba where snow will be more persistent. High temperatures on Sunday will warm into the low plus single digits in the southeast (1 to 4C), areas further west will only manage to reach the low minus single digits from Portage la Praire westwards.

Sunday night (Above):! we begin to move on to the backside of the low as winds begin blowing out of the north there is a component for blowing snow lower risk than other systems we’ve experienced. Snow will begin to taper down by the late overnight into the early morning hours. Overnight low temperatures will likely drop in the low minus teens in southwest, western , interlake, and parklands regions (-10 to -12C).  Areas in the extreme south central and border regions can see those lows drop into the high minus single digits (-6 to -8C). 

Snowfall totals: A general swath of 10 to 20cm is likely from the American border in the pembina valley region into western sections of Manitoba. This includes the parklands, riding mountain national park and pretty much all areas west of Portage La Prairie. Elsewhere outside these zones a general 5 to 10cm can be expected north of and east of areas of the pembina valley and east of western Manitoba. 

(Some meteorologists humour :.I always get questions about these systems, let’s put this in simple terms Alberta clippers are called clippers because they whizz and they act as annoying little brothers or sisters they only annoy you a little before they leave you alone. Weather in a sense is like your annoying but lovable siblings. 😆. )

Monday and the week ahead: A chance of flurries continues as the system departs, depending on the setup and where the backside of the low moves to a slight chance that some cloud cover could stick around. Regardless Monday night into Tuesday a low pressure system will develop over Colorado and begin to deepen or intensify as it begins to lift north. This system needs to be watched as it has concerns for significant impacts on our overall weather, Minnesota, North Dakota will be impacted as well. Temperatures will remain below normal to start the week with signs that we will still be stuck in the mid to high minus single digits.  Lord help my patience please. 😆. 

SPRING BLOOM SOON? Good news though there are signs that the overall temperature pattern will begin to shift by the middle of next week, with our average high temperatures rising into the low to mid plus side of high temperatures. Still awaiting confirmation on this with new model runs. Yay!!!

-Mike McGregor