Another wintry blast in store for Brandon
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/04/2023 (931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Stay off the roads, Environment Canada advised as it issued a winter storm watch Monday afternoon, warning of snow, rain and high winds this week.
Blowing snow will make it difficult to see in some areas, the weather agency warned, and travel is expected to be hazardous.
“The combination of snow and wind giving us blowing snow means road conditions are going to be difficult,” said Natalie Hasell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada.
Slippery conditions will occur in areas where rain falls, then freezes overnight, with snow adding to the mix, producing wet snow that can freeze into a “concrete” state.
Hasell noted that determining where the most precipitation will fall and the intensity of storms such as these can be difficult, but one thing seems certain: “It does not look good for southwestern Manitoba.”
“As the temperatures, especially in the evening and overnight periods will be below zero, if things started as rain, that stuff could freeze.”
Hasell said a Colorado low is the source of the storm poised to hit southeastern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba starting this evening and continue in parts of Manitoba until Friday.
While Hasell said while the centre of the low will stay south of the border, its trough will extend into the Canadian Prairies.
The total snowfall expected is 10 to 25 centimetres, with higher elevations receiving the most.
Besides the dump of snow, the storm will come with strong northeasterly winds with gusts as high as 80 kilometres per hour. That will produce blowing snow that will make travel hazardous.
The strongest winds are expected over the Manitoba Parklands and extreme southeast of Saskatchewan, starting Wednesday morning and diminishing overnight.
Then, rain mixed with snow will move in today, then transition back to snow overnight with the heaviest snowfall early Wednesday morning.
By the time the weather system passes, some locations may see more than 30 millimetres of precipitation. Hasell said for Brandon, the snow should taper off by Friday morning.
Even once the storm passes, Hasell cautioned, drivers still need to be careful due to the freeze-thaw cycle at this time of year as daily highs reach above 0 C and overnight lows dip below freezing.
“So, if you do get more snow this time, and we expect that you will, anything that melts can refreeze,” Hasell said. “So the impact of this storm may last longer than the storm itself over the area, simply because the freeze-thaw cycle could go on for a few days.”
Hasell advises motorists to keep an eye on road conditions and closures.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com