Winnipeg battered with unusually wet snowfall, meteorologist says

It may be mid-December, but if you felt that Winnipeg’s weather had a decidedly “spring” feel on Wednesday — a wet, slushy mess — you’re not alone.

Meteorologist Scott Kehler of Weatherlogics says the situation over the past day has been unseasonably wet for the region at this time of year.

“The reason for that is largely due to the temperature,” Kehler told 680 CJOB’s The Start on Thursday.

“The temperature yesterday hovered right around zero — normally, at this time of year, the temperature is well below zero during the daytime,” Kehler said.

“Colder snows tend to be drier in nature. On the prairies, our snowfall is usually drier compared to the east coast where temperatures are warmer and there’s also higher humidity.”

Kehler said the wet conditions are expected to continue through Thursday morning, but won’t stick around for too long.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“To start the day, temperatures are still on the warmer side, so the snow to start will remain a little bit wet,” he said.

“But as temperatures fall later today and into tomorrow, the snow will become drier and also the winds will pick up so we’ll see more drifting as well, so the nature of the snow will change a bit.”

The inclement weather, of course, is also affecting local roads.

As the snow continues to fall, CAA Manitoba said it’s expecting the next couple of days to be considerably busier for emergency road service calls.

As of 4 p.m. CAA’s Elisha Dacey said the service had received a total of 270 calls, with roughly half of those coming from drivers stuck on roads or in ditches.

1:51 Extended parking ban to go into effect for Winnipeg snow clearing operation

CAA Manitoba’s average call volume for a day is between 300 and 350 calls, Dacey said.

While Wednesday turned out to be an average day — about 350 calls — CAA’s Elisha Dacey

“So we are ahead of that schedule as of now, and it’s expected to continue at this volume as the next storm system sweeps in overnight,” she said in a release late in the day Thursday.

“Rural areas are worse and call volumes are longer outside of the city.”

Earlier in the day Dacey told 680 CJOB’s The Start CAA Manitoba responded to roughly 350 calls Wednesday.

“We have all hands on deck — we know that the next day or so is going to get busy,” she said.

While CAA provides emergency service across the province, that help won’t be coming if you find yourself stuck on a highway that has been closed by the province, Dacey warned.

“If something happens to you when you’re on a closed road, we cannot come and get you,” she said.

“We will not violate that closure to come and get you … so stay off roads that are closed.”

2:12 Winnipeg’s snow-clearing policy questioned

The weather led to a cancellation of bus service for several rural school divisions and classes were cancelled at all Rolling River School Division schools.
There were  also several other Highway closures due to poor winter driving conditions.

Highways 3, 13, 14, 2, 32 and 201 were all affected by closures as of 4:30 p.m.

Westbound Highway 1 was also closed at Portage la Prairie due to a crash on the bypass shortly after 4 p.m.

–With files from Shane Gibson