Not Enough Snow In The High Country

Alarmingly low snow levels in the Rocky Mountains will cut water supplies to Canada’s Prairies and could help trigger a river drought in the important farming region, a leading expert said May 27. The predictions by University of Saskatchewan hydrologist John Pomeroy were particularly gloomy, given that 2009-10 was a record dry winter for the



Issued: Monday, June 7, 2010 Covering: June 9 –June 16

The active weather pattern that seems to be bringing more clouds than sun and plenty of chances for rain looks like it will continue at least for another week, but there are some signs that the pattern might be changing. Currently we see a very strong jet stream coming in off the Pacific and zooming

Issued: Monday, May 31, 2010 Covering: June 2 –June 9

Well, I knew there were going to be thunderstorms across southern Manitoba last weekend; what I did really believe was that some areas would see over 75 mm of rain. For those of you hoping we are going to enter a nice drying-out period I’m afraid the news isn’t all that good. We should see


Soggy Weekend Adds Up

TABLE 1. RAINFALL FROM 6 A. M. FRIDAY TO 6 A. M. SATURDAY LOCATION Winnipeg Emerson PortagelaPrairie 91.4mm Pinawa Brandon Carberry Great Falls DeltaMarsh 33.8mm McCreary Wasagaming 27.2mm Melita Carman Cypress River Gimli Oak Point Roblin Dauphin FisherBranch 15.5mm Sprague Deerwood Pilot Mound Morden RAINFALL (mm) 95.0 mm 110.4 mm 87.8 mm 63.0 mm 46.4

Issued: Monday, May 24, 2010 Covering: May 26 –June 2

The blocking ridge of high pressure that brought sunny skies and warm temperatures last week has moved to the east and a large trough of low pressure has taken its place over our region. With high pressure to our east and low pressure to our west, the general flow of the atmosphere over our region


Hail And Thunderstorms

TABLE 1. Twelve largest recent Canadian hailstorms (losses in millions of dollars) Date Location Sept. 1991 Calgary 343 July 1987 Edmonton July 1996 July 1981 July 1996 July 1996 July 1998 July 1995 Aug. 1998 June 1995 Winnipeg Calgary Calgary Calgary Calgary Calgary Calgary Southern Alberta May 1987 Montreal July 1992 Calgary Insurance losses 148

Awesome Thunderstorms

The Weather Vane is prepared by Daniel Bezte, a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the University of Winnipeg. Daniel has taught university-level classes in climate and weather and currently operates a computerized weather station at his home near Birds Hill Park, on 10 acres he plans to


Issued: Monday, May 17, 2010 Covering: May 19 –May 26

Summer-like conditions definitely won out over the possible cool, wet conditions for the first half of this forecast period. The warm, dry weather is the result of a split flow in the middle layers of the atmosphere. This is keeping any storm systems well to our north or just to our south. Combine this with

Rain, Snow, Tornadoes

The Weather Vane is prepared by Daniel Bezte, a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the University of Winnipeg. Daniel has taught university-level classes in climate and weather and currently operates a computerized weather station at his home near Birds Hill Park, on 10 acres he plans to