A winter storm warning is in effect for Winnipeg as the snow continues to fall across the city on Tuesday.
“The combination of 10 to 15 cm of fresh snow along with winds gusting up to 80 km/h at times will produce blowing snow that will severely hamper visibilities on highways,” said Environment Canada’s website.
Roads in Winnipeg are snow-covered, thanks in part to the city’s snowplows not being sent out until the snow stopped falling around 7 a.m., said Michael Cantor, the city’s snow operations head.
“We waited for the snow to come down. It worked well operationally and with the accumulation coming down. So we chose that hour from various reasons,” said Cantor.
“So we did start at seven o’clock and we’ll continue doing the day, obviously, and we’ll have to replow some areas.”
Cantor said the sidewalks are being plowed as well.
“It’s going to be a busy day today. So we ask residents to be patient with us while we’re going through this event. But the plow will continue, probably for a few days.”
As for they highways, they’re being cleared too.
“We have roughly 340 pieces of equipment, it’s all hands on deck, there’s lots of snow coming down, so our crews are out there clearing,” said Manitoba Highways spokesperson Tara Liske.
“When the wind goes back that high and visibility is lower, it’s not safe for anybody to be out on the road. So we will have to pull our ploughs from the highways and then start again when the winds subside.”
The conditions on Manitoba highways are pretty much the same throughout at this point, said Liske.
The windy, snowy weather could create delays for flights and the Winnipeg Airport Authority wants people to keep that in mind.
Environment Canada is suggesting people postpone any non-essential travel through the day until conditions begin to improve.
The weather has also caused many school, bus and daycare cancellations throughout the province.
An additional 5 to 10 cm of snow is possible throughout Tuesday and strong northerly wind gusts near 70 km/h are expected.
Many other parts of southern Manitoba are under the storm warning as well, including areas around Portage la Prairie, the Interlake, Beausejour, Steinbach, Winkler, Morden.
Meanwhile, most of the rest of southern Manitoba remains under just a Snowfall Warning.
The snow should taper off later Tuesday into the evening but wind gusts overnight are going to remain close to 50 km/h.