Current Conditions - Swan River, MB

A climatologist is calling the dry spell on the prairies, which has already caused a roaring Manitoba forest fire, one of Canada’s most significant weather crises of 2021.

Winnipeg Fire crews had a busy weekend, responding to three fires in city limits. No one was injured in any of the fires but the fire ban is expanding to deal with dry conditions.

Residents in Swan River are without power Sunday morning as a pole fire affects nearly 600 Manitoba Hydro customers with no estimated time of restoration.

Winnipeg fire crews are seeing a spike in wildland fires as Manitoba continues to deal with unseasonably dry conditions. In just four days, fire crews have put out three fires.

Manitoba Hydro crews are busy Sunday removing ice from power lines and fixing broken poles as hundreds experienced outages.

A system that dumped up to 25 centimetres of snow onto parts of southern Manitoba is the largest snowfall of the winter season for Winnipeg.

School and other cancellations for Wednesday, April 14

School and other cancellations for Tuesday, April 13

Environment Canada says the snow should gradually wind down late Tuesday as the system weakens and moves to the east.

A brief return to Winter is expected early this week as Southern Manitoba is forecasted to receive 10-25 centimetres of snow. Most of the snow will likely melt on arrival.

The province is preparing contingency plans should the lack of precipitation push Manitoba into a drought.

Several highways are closed and many have warnings due to ice and blowing snow.