Wheat City could register its latest snowfall in 61 years

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This article was published 09/11/2024 (509 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It has yet to snow in Brandon so far in this half of the year, and if flakes don’t fall by Sunday, it will set a record for the city’s latest snowfall in 61 years.

Environment and Climate Change Canada keeps an online record of observed weather from its many stations online.

According to that data, the latest date that even a trace amount of snowfall was observed at Brandon Municipal Airport since 1950 was on Nov. 25, 1954.

Data is available from the station dating back to 1941, but there is enough missing data from those years that it stops being reliable.

After 1954, the latest recorded snowfalls were on Nov. 20, 1963, and Nov. 10, 2021.

As of the afternoon of Nov. 8, no snow has been recorded, making this year already the fourth-latest snowfall since 1950.

Environment Canada’s seven-day forecast for Brandon issued that same afternoon did not predict any snow before Nov. 14, meaning that this year still has a chance to climb up that list or even set a new record.

The data shows that between 1950 and 2024, Brandon has received its first second-half snowfall in October 48 times, in September 15 times and November 12 times.

By phone from Winnipeg, Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist Natalie Hasell said Canadian climate normal data from 1991 through 2020 shows that Oct. 25 is the average date of Brandon’s first snowfall.

Typically, Brandon gets an average of six centimetres of snow in October and 20.5 in November.

Currently, Brandon’s daytime temperatures are about 10 degrees warmer than normal.

Hasell said that’s from upper-level highs of warm air extending into the Canadian Prairies but generally centered in the south.

The current system is expected to be replaced by a low pressure one starting Monday night and into Tuesday. That’s projected to bring precipitation to the province.

While northern Manitoba is forecast to get snow from that system, the current forecast predicts that Brandon is likely to get rain.

In Environment Canada’s September drought monitoring map, Hasell said some drought conditions were observed in southwestern Manitoba. This could be because of a dry winter and early spring, she said.

While she said she’s not an expert in agriculture, Hasell said the situation could be a concern for agriculture and wildfires in 2025 if conditions persist.

If there’s any place in Westman that has received snow, Hasell said it would likely be Riding Mountain National Park or near the Turtle Mountains, though she was having troubles accessing the data for those areas on Friday.

The agency’s long-term forecast currently has no predicted trend for precipitation in the coming months, meaning it could still end up being higher or lower than normal. However, higher than average temperatures are forecast.

Despite the lack of snow, Hasell said Brandon and other parts of southern Manitoba are caught in an ongoing freeze-thaw cycle, where liquid freezes at night and melts during the day.

That can lead to frost, including on roads and highways.

Earlier this week, icy conditions lead to a multi-vehicle crash on Winnipeg’s Perimeter Highway that closed traffic in both directions for a couple of hours on Nov. 5.

Icy roads northeast of Winnipeg caused a 19-vehicle pile up that led to one death on Wednesday. That same day, a truck driving on a slippery bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway in the RM of Cartier crashed into another truck heading the other direction, sending both drivers to hospital.

“The temperatures at night being below zero means that your road conditions can be really different between day and night,” Hasell said. “Even though the weather’s been benign, that still represents a risk or a threat.

When travelling between different regions of the province, Hasell warned that road conditions could be quite different.

However, since the daytime temperatures are warmer than normal, Hasell said it’s a great opportunity for people in Brandon and Westman to prepare for winter by having their furnaces, ducts, backwater valves, sump pumps, roofs and trees cleaned or checked as well as making sure emergency kits and contacts are up to date.

» cslark@brandonsun.com