Parts of southern Manitoba to get hammered with snow, winds through Thursday

Don’t let a couple of snowless days fool you: the weather is set to get ugly in some parts of southern Manitoba.

Just across the Canada-U.S. border, North Dakota has already been getting slammed with heavy snow, resulting in the closure of the I-29 highway between Grand Forks and Fargo.

Environment Canada meteorologist Kyle McAuley says the Colorado low moving up from the U.S. will only clip Winnipeg, but snowfall warnings are in effect for areas south and east of the city.

“In the city, we’re looking at five to 10 centimetres of snow starting this afternoon,” McAuley told 680 CJOB’s The Start.

“To the south and to the southeast, we’re going to see a little bit higher amounts — probably around 10 to 20 centimentres … even up to 25 in the extreme southeast corner of Manitoba.”

Border communities and the Whiteshell, he said, are expected to bear the brunt of the storm, which could end up being upgraded to a winter storm warning before the day is out.

“There’s also some pretty strong winds associated with this system, pretty strong northerly winds gusting up to 60, 70 km/h, especially along the Red River Valley,” McAuley said.

“Travelling along Highway 59 could be hazardous. We may be upgrading to a winter storm warning, so try to avoid travel if you can.”

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