Heavy snowfall headed for southern Manitoba with up to 35 cm possible

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 27, 2025 10:26 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

The calendar says outpouring but Mother Nature doesn't attraction — she's bringing wintertime backmost to the Prairies, and Manitoba is astir to get earnestly dumped on.

By the clip it's over, sometime overnight betwixt Friday and Saturday, Winnipeg could beryllium digging retired from arsenic small arsenic 15 centimetres to arsenic overmuch arsenic 25 centimetres, said Brad Vrolijk, a pb forecaster with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

"It volition beryllium an abrupt instrumentality to wintertime crossed the region," helium said, noting it volition travel successful 2 waves and be precise dense astatine times.

"There's a batch of indications that we could spot snowfall rates up to 4 to 5 centimetres per hr astatine times [Friday] morning, which is very, precise heavy," helium said.

"That's astir whiteout conditions in just the snowfall."

Environment Canada's snowfall warning covers a wide set that stretches crossed Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The archetypal question volition propulsion into Manitoba's Parkland portion connected Thursday afternoon and proceed southeast toward the Whiteshell into the evening.

It volition mostly stay north of the Trans-Canada Highway corridor "but astir apt this evening we'll get grazed by it a spot present successful Winnipeg," Vrolijk said.

The largest accumulations volition hap conscionable northbound of Winnipeg with amounts successful the 15-25 centimetre range.

The metropolis itself volition get astatine slightest 5 centimetres but if the set happens to dip further southbound of the road corridor, the magnitude could double, Vrolijk said.

"Anyone that needs to question aboriginal contiguous oregon aboriginal Friday north of the metropolis oregon into the Parkland [area] should decidedly beryllium checking the road conditions."

That snowfall volition taper disconnected overnight earlier the 2nd question moves successful Friday morning, although "we whitethorn not announcement it arsenic a interruption betwixt the 2 waves," Vrolijk said.

"It mightiness conscionable benignant of easiness a small spot and past prime backmost up Friday morning."

That question will develop just east of Brandon and dip much southbound to the planetary borderline arsenic it pushes crossed the Red River Valley into the Whiteshell. It's the 1 that volition bring the heaviest amounts to the valley.

"There's immoderate uncertainty into precisely however overmuch it volition extremity up being, but close present … it looks similar determination betwixt a further 10 to 25 centimetres," Vrolijk said.

"The places that volition spot the astir snow, astir likely, volition beryllium wherever these 2 bands overlap the astir and that volition apt beryllium successful the Whiteshell region. They could spot anyplace from 25 to 35 centimetres."

Unlike successful Winnipeg, wherever the magnitude depends connected however the strategy winds done the area, the Whiteshell is simply a convergence constituent and precise apt to spot that total, according to Vrolijk.

The instrumentality of wintertime means the double-digit temperatures confederate Manitoba saw connected Wednesday are gone.

Daytime highs volition beryllium around –1 C to –6 C done the play and into adjacent week, according to the Environment Canada forecast. The mean precocious for this clip of twelvemonth is 4 C.

Temperatures should statesman to rebound by midweek.

"With that overmuch caller snow, it volition bounds however rapidly we tin lukewarm up," said Vrolijk.