By an overwhelming amount, the No. 1 question I have had over the last couple of weeks is: What will the spring be like? While I usually wait until the end of the month to do the look-ahead forecast, I will use this article to go through each of the medium- and long-range forecasters to
What does spring have in store for us?
If a long-range outlook covers a huge area, some place is likely to get that weather
Forecast: Plenty of clouds and unsettled weather
Issued March 19, 2018: Covering the period from March 21 to March 28, 2018
The general placements of the main weather features were handled well by the weather models during the last forecast period, but as usual, the devil was in the details. A persistent flow of dry air from the departing high last week allowed overnight temperatures to become fairly cool. This, combined with the fresh snowpack, helped
March snowstorm bumps up snowpack
Compared to seasonal norms, Earth’s coldest spot last month was in northeastern Manitoba
Almost one year later to the day, southern and parts of central Manitoba in 2018 saw another significant early-spring snowstorm. There were two big differences between this year’s storm and last year’s. First, this year’s storm began with milder temperatures. These milder temperatures made for a heavier, wetter snowfall. Combine this with the second difference,
Forecast: Nice early-spring weather to continue
Issued March 12, 2018: Covering the period from March 14 to March 21, 2018
Last week’s forecast played out fairly close to what weather models predicted, with a few minor exceptions. Western regions saw a little more cloud and occasional light snow last Wednesday and Thursday, while temperatures to start the week were a little cooler than forecast, thanks to a weak backdoor cold front that moved in from
Spring, the snowiest time of the year
Winnipeg, over its last 140 Marches, has seen 12 single-day snows of 20 cm or more
From a meteorological perspective, winter has come to an end and spring is here. Winter is classified as the three-month period from December to February, and across parts of southern and central Manitoba this past winter turned out to be one of the driest winters on record. Looking at the three main reporting centres, Dauphin
Forecast: Quiet early-spring weather
Issued March 5, 2018: Covering the period from March 7 to March 14, 2018
We saw a little bit of everything last week with spring-like temperatures late in the week followed by a complex storm system that brought a return to winter-like conditions to begin this week. For this forecast period, it looks like quiet weather will move back in after a very unsettled start to the week. Weak
Dry weather expected to continue into March
Absent any major snowfall soon, a warmer-than-average March is increasingly likely
After a month of back-and-forth temperatures in January that eventually worked out to above-average monthly temperatures, February turned out to be… well, just darned cold. The nice warm temperatures that moved in over the last five days of the month were not enough to overcome the persistent cold weather that dominated the majority of the
Forecast: Some nice late-winter weather
Issued February 26, 2018: Covering the period from February 28 to March 7
Over the last week or so, the general weather pattern across much of central and northern North America has undergone a major shift. The polar vortex has broken down as expected, the western ridge of high pressure has weakened and moved farther off the coast, and the long-wave trough of low pressure over eastern regions
Springcasting and other interesting websites
Data on lilacs’ flowering and budding over time are being put to work in the U.S.
With about a month and a half left in our rather uneventful extended winter season (November to March) it’s becoming difficult to come up with new and interesting things to write about. Remember, feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions or ideas you may have about anything weather related. That said, I
Forecast: Some signs point to milder weather ahead
Issued February 12, 2018: Covering the period from February 14 to February 21
With the polar vortex still firmly in place, our weather forecasts have been predictable, and once again last week we saw the weather play out darned close to what the weather models had predicted. Arctic air dominated right through the weekend and some areas even saw a little light snow Sunday as the forecast weak