Blizzard closes Westman highways

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This article was published 04/03/2024 (765 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Westman region of Manitoba got walloped by a blizzard Sunday morning, closing highways and threatening power supplies.

The low-pressure system which came in from Saskatchewan late Saturday blanketed much of western Manitoba from the international border to Swan River, said Environment Canada meteorologist Justin Shaer.

“Snow just continues to pile on there, and compounding the problem are some strong northeast winds with gusts up to 70 kilometres an hour,” he said.

Due to high winds, the quantity of snowfall has not yet been realized, Shaer said.

On Saturday, Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning to all southern and central areas of Manitoba, promising up to 40 centimetres of snow in the western part of the province, the Interlake and the eastern side of Lake Winnipeg.

Throughout Sunday, parts of several highways were closed due to poor winter driving conditions caused by blowing snow and snow drifts, in particular in the Roblin and Russell areas. Portions of highways 5, 16, 45, 83, 366 and 482 were closed.

As of Sunday, a blizzard warning was in effect for the City of Brandon and much of western Manitoba, with a prediction of heavy snow, gusting winds and near-zero visibility across the region.

Sunday evening, the Brandon School Division announced its buses wouldn’t run outside of city limits today due to bad roads and Alexander, O’Kelly and Spring Valley Schools would be closed. Buses would run inside the city, the division stated, but delays should be expected.

Environment Canada’s website said that 25 to 35 centimetres of snow was expected to fall, amidst winds gusting up to 70 to 80 kilometres per hour.

The storm resulted from a low pressure weather system that moves northwards from Montana and into Canada, often bringing heavy snowfall and high winds called a Montana low. The system gathered strength on Sunday morning, with snowfall and wind speeds steadily increasing and evolving into blizzard conditions, which, at the time of writing, were expected to improve Sunday evening as wind speeds weaken and heavy snow begins to slow down.

But the weather agency warned that gusting winds and blowing snow were likely for Monday morning. Throughout the storm, travel was expected to be difficult and even impossible due to near-zero visibility, and the agency advised that the weather could change or deteriorate rapidly. As a result, non-essential travel should have been postponed, its website stated.

Winnipeg and the surrounding regions were saved from the snowfall Sunday morning and instead got freezing rain and strong winds because of warm air in the system that moved east.

Environment Canada said the freezing rain could cause ice build-up, resulting in slippery roads and power outages.

After the storm passes, the province’s flood forecasters will analyze precipitation amounts and factor them into a new spring flood outlook. On Friday, the province said the current risk of flooding across the province was low to moderate.

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from The Brandon Sun