Snowfall abates, but cold temps to set in

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/12/2016 (2843 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled winter.

The first winter storm of this season was quite the interruption on Tuesday and Wednesday in Manitoba, with blizzard-like conditions that included dumping about 30 cm of snow in many locations, blowing snow, winds gusting to 70 km/h at times, school and highway closures all over the province, folks stranded on roadsides and in towns along the route they had been travelling and snow removal crews working plenty of overtime.

On Thursday, there’s still work to be done clearing snow in many locations around the province. Most highways had reopened overnight but by early Thursday, a number had been closed due to snow drifts.

Manitoba Government Roads reports are that the TransCanada Highway, as well as several others around the province, to be partly snow-covered with drifting and swirling snow and some are partially covered with ice. Motorists are advised to travel with caution.

Some rural school divisions have closed schools and there are still no school buses in some regions on Thursday so families should check with their school divisions.

In the city, crews are continuing to clear streets and the residential parking ban will kick in Friday as plows will be clearing residential streets to avoid all that snow freezing into ruts that wreck vehicles.

The city’s entire fleet of nearly 200 plows, trucks and graders are hitting the streets in an effort to clean up after Winnipeg’s first winter storm.

“At this time of year, for our first event, things have been going really good,” said Jim Berezowsky, the city’s manager of snow cleaning, at a news conference Wednesday.

To help crews clear streets, the residential parking ban takes effect Friday. The ban is between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on residential streets designated for plowing. Cars parked on those streets risk being ticketed and towed.

The residential street ban is different than the overnight parking ban, which went into effect last week. The overnight ban prevents parking between 2 a.m. to 7 a.m., but as a result of Tuesday’s winter storm, it was extended two hours from midnight to 7 a.m.

On Thursday, there are continuing periods of light snow and some wind, not as severe as the past two days but from the northwest at 30 km/h and gusting to 50 km/h. The temperature will be -12 C on Thursday.

Even though it feels cold, the temperatures now are actually in the normal range for this time of year. The regional normals are a high of -9 and a low of -18.

It’s cloudy, so that’s holding off the deep freeze for a bit — but it’s coming.

People will need to plug in vehicles on Thursday night.

The low on Thursday will be -23 and it will feel like -33 with the wind chill. There’s a 30 per cent chance of flurries overnight Thursday.

It will be mainly sunny Friday with a west wind of 20 km/h. The high will be -19 but it will feel like -34 with the wind chill. It will be clear on Friday night with a low of -25.

The weekend weather is more of the same — clear and cold. Saturday’s high will only get to -20 with the low of -27.

Sunday will be sunny and a high of -18 but will cloud over by evening when there is a 30 per cent chance of flurries. The low is -23.