It’s cold. Really cold. But relief is in the forecast.

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This article was published 18/02/2025 (401 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After several days of extremely cold temperatures in Manitoba the past week, temperatures will begin to rise later this week. But it will take a few days to get there.

Shoal Lake’s overnight low of -40 C Monday morning smashed a record previously set on that day 59 years ago.

Roblin’s -42.3 C will go down in that community’s record books as the coldest it has been on Feb. 17 in 19 years.

Brandon hasn’t broken any temperature records in the last month and a half but registered a windchill of -51 C to start the day on Monday.

Relief is on the way says Christy Climenhaga, scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“There is some good news in our long-range forecast, but before we get there, the next couple of days are really going to keep us in the -20s during the daytime, and at night, the mid to high -30s. We could even see some -40s in and around the province,” said Climenhaga.

“And then of course, those wind chills, extreme ones are expected through the next couple of days,” she said.

This has been the longest cold spell that Brandon has had all winter, Climenhaga added. The average daytime high is -7 C, and the overnight low should be -17 C.

February 2025 has been a lot colder when compared to February 2024, when the daytime temperature didn’t dip below -20 C. The three coldest days last year were -13.9 C, -16.2 C and -17 C, while the coldest overnight low was -26.2 C.

This year, February’s daytime temperatures have ranged from -16.1 C to -24 C, with the overnight lows bottoming out six times between -30 C and -36.6 C.

To blame is a “big Arctic ridge,” Climenhaga said, a system that’s been pushing cold air into the prairies. It has not moved for the last two to three weeks.

But by the weekend, the system will start to relax a bit, with the cold air “retreating back up to the Arctic where it belongs.”

“Taking a look at our longer-range forecasts, we do have a better chance of above normal temperatures for March in southern Manitoba,” Climenhaga said.

“That doesn’t mean every day is going to be warm, you could still get a cold day here and there, but it does mean that there is a better chance of more above normal days than below normal days. So, things look promising,” she said.

The ridge of high pressure that’s sitting over Brandon and Western Manitoba right now has been keeping precipitation at bay, said Climenhaga.

“Once it starts to clear out, we’ll likely see a bit of a change in our weather and maybe some more active weather in terms of other systems.

“You could see some light flurries through the weekend,” she said, “maybe into your Saturday.

“It’s a little early to tell exactly what you would get, but it could even be some mixed precipitation through the weekend in southern Manitoba.

“That’s something to keep an eye on for the long range.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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