Snowfall warning could lead to ‘treacherous’ driving conditions

Southern Manitoba is in for some winter weather as lots of snow and wind are heading across the prairies Tuesday afternoon and evening. 

“We have a low-pressure system that’s developing in Montana right now,” says James Colangelo, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (EC). “That’s spreading quite a lot of snow throughout the southern prairies.”

The system will start dropping precipitation between snow and freezing rain in the south-western part of Manitoba before hitting Winnipeg in the evening on Tuesday. 

“Quite a bit of snow expected for Winnipeg. It looks like by the end, we’ll see 15-20 centimetres. The system will be giving fairly strong easterly winds, today and tonight through southern Manitoba, with gusts up to 60 km/h.”

The weather system is expected to move through the province slowly, with most of the snow falling on Wednesday throughout the day. 

“The heaviest snow starts to taper off overnight Wednesday, but there will still be lingering snow through the day on Thursday.”

Western Manitoba will receive the highest snowfall accumulation, expecting 30-35 centimetres of snow. 

With the wind gusts, Colangelo says, “It could be treacherous driving out there. Quite a big storm and pretty treacherous, especially commuting across the highway.”