Most blizzard warnings that had blanketed much of southern Manitoba a day earlier were lifted Sunday morning, yet several highways remained closed.
By mid-morning Sunday, the only remaining blizzard warnings were for the areas of Morden-Winkler, and Steinbach-Emerson.
Environment Canada says the falling snow has ended, but visibility is significantly reduced in areas, mainly near the international border.
It adds localized blizzard conditions will weaken gradually into the afternoon, but blowing snow may remain an issue in places.
Chris Stammers, Environment Canada senior meteorologist, said there is “just one system after another here, giving us shots of strong winds, snow — blowing snow.”
“The good news is that the worst is now behind us, and now we’re going to get into a period of just cold temperatures really, allowing us to clean up from this mess.”
By late Sunday morning, Winnipeg’s Perimeter Highway and the Trans-Canada Highway between Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie had reopened, yet a number of closures were still in effect across southern Manitoba.
That included the Trans-Canada heading east from Winnipeg to St. Anne, Highway 12 between Highway 1 and the international border, and Highway 59 between the city limits and St. Malo.
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“Obviously, there are sizable drifts, so (crews are) trying to get those opened up. The wind is a bit better, so the blizzard warning has ended, so that will help our crews getting those roads opened up,” said Derek Trainer, a spokesperson with Manitoba highways.
“The conditions are still pretty bad.”
The province posts up-to-date highway condition and closure information on the Manitoba 511 website, along with its Twitter account.
Though the storm may have passed, most of northern Manitoba remains under an extreme cold warning, which Environment Canada says will remain for the next several days. It says people need to brace for wind chill values of -45 to -55 throughout the region.
Farther to the south, Stammers said temperatures may not be quite that bad, but could still reach wind chills of -40.
“We will start to see temperatures rise by Friday, Saturday, so it’s really an extended period of extreme cold,” Stammers said.
“The good news is there really shouldn’t be any more snow; it’s looking like a good stretch of five days of dry weather.”
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