Signs of spring are starting to sprout around Winnipeg.
On Tuesday, Shooters Family Golf opened its driving range and golfers wasted no time getting back in the swing of things.
“It’s been a long winter. We were getting ready to go last winter and then had that snow fall last week that kind of set everything back, but we’re excited to get going now,” Shooters golf and pro shop manager Eason Cerasani told Global News.
“(Getting) tons of calls, phone’s been ringing off the hook. Even as early as last week, people see the forecast and they get excited and they started calling.”
Cerasani says this is about the normal time of year when they’re able to open the driving range, and weather-permitting, the golf course should open in about 10 days.
“Last year was really late, it was beginning of May we didn’t open till,” he said. “Then the year before that we opened at the beginning of March. Usually the range opens around Easter so this is not too delayed.”
Temperatures hit double digits on Tuesday, something Winnipeggers haven’t felt in 160 days, according to Environment & Climate Change Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.
“It was actually early November when we saw a temperature (that) got really way up there. And that was like for a two-day wonder and since then, this is really the first kind of a warm breeze that you’ve got,” Phillips said.
Keeping in line with spring weather in Manitoba, the warmth will not have staying power, Phillips says.
“Within the same week, we see temperatures that are falling to highs of three degrees. Normal temperatures would be a high of nine degrees in Winnipeg, or a low of minus two,” he added.
“It’s that type of typical, fickle kind of April. Back and forth, up and down.”
Spring snowstorm having minimal impact on flood forecast
While some Winnipeggers were enjoying the warmer temperatures Tuesday, others like Arnie Ang, were preparing for the possibility of flooded homes and basements.
“It’s our first year in the house so it’s just like precaution, we don’t have a sump pump in the house,” said Ang as he filled his truck with sandbags from the city’s yard at 960 Thomas Ave.
“We’re putting the bags around the perimeter of the house in the event there’s a leak or something in the basement, then we’re safe.”
The flood forecast for Manitoba wasn’t significantly impacted by last week’s snowstorm, which saw some areas of the province get up to 25 cm of snow.
On Wednesday, the province said the forecast remains consistent with the spring outlook issued last month, which indicated a major flood risk for the Red River between Emerson and the Red River floodway inlet.
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