A system that dumped up to 25 centimetres of snow onto parts of southern Manitoba is the largest snowfall of the winter season for Winnipeg.
But don’t worry, it’s going to melt very quickly.
Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Carlsen said Winnipeg saw anywhere from 15-25 cm of snow as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, along with wind gusts up to 50 km/h.
“It was a pretty good snowfall,” he said.
Some other notable accumulations in southern Manitoba include Waldersee and Minitonas with 20 cm, Morris at 15 cm, West Hawk Lake and Oak River at 14 cm, and Portage la Prairie and Brandon sitting at 12 cm.
What was even more unusual is that the system moved east to west, instead of the usual west to east.
“It looks like we’re going to have, kind of a slow-ish melt, it’s probably going to take until the end of the weekend,” Carlsen said.
“I can’t say we’re out of the woods yet, but I can say I don’t see anything significant on the long-term models.”
If this all sounds familiar, it is. On April 2-3, 2020, 22 cm of snow fell in Winnipeg, also making it the largest snowfall event of the season.
The biggest all-time April snowstorm was in 1997, which led to the Flood of the Century.
Winnipeg’s plows have been on the roads since early Tuesday, said Michael Cantor, the city’s manager of street maintenance.
“At the same time, we’re salting and sanding to improve road conditions.”
The city will evaluate whether to do a full cleaning of all residential streets and back lanes, Cantor said. In the meantime, all Priority 1 and 2 streets will be done.
Cantor said people can call 311 if their street or back lane is in urgent need.
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The good news is that all fire and travel restrictions in the southwestern part of the province have been lifted.
Spruce Woods Provincial Park, Spruce Woods Provincial Forest, and surrounding Crown land and the Criddle/Vane Homestead, Turtle Mountain and William Lake provincial parks are no longer under fire restrictions.
Restrictions are also lifted within the Lauder Sandhills Wildlife Management Area within the RM of Grassland.
Most of southern Manitoba is in a severe or extreme drought.The precipitation is also good news for farmers. As of March 31, much of Southern Manitoba was classified as in a severe or extreme drought situation.
The precipitation should help ease drought conditions a little.
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