A tractor blowing snow in rural Saskatchewan. PHOTO: FILE

The distant drivers of Manitoba winter weather

Manitobans viscerally feel the impacts of snowfall, chilling winds and the occasional polar vortex, but the source of those local winter weather patterns can come from far away

Manitobans viscerally feel the impacts of snowfall, chilling winds and the occasional polar vortex, but the source of those local winter weather patterns can come from far away

Forecasting winter 2025-26 in Manitoba

A weak La Niña is in play again this winter, but its effects aren’t clear

Three distinct factors are likely to drive the type of weather farmers and ranchers experience in Manitoba this winter, Daniel Bezte writes, starting this issue with a look at the atmospheric event known as La Niña.


The June 20-22 rain will ensure that most producers harvest a crop in 2025.

More rainfall for Prairie farmers

As the atmosphere warms, farmers on the Canadian Prairies could see more heavy rainfalls

Heavy rain may become more common as the climate on the Canadian Prairies makes more of the storm types that produce it.



Weekly weather map in JPEG for Aug 21 MCO.

Warmer and wetter future for Prairie farms

Higher humidity and intense rainfall events are all but inevitable as the planet warms

Warming oceans and warming air translate to more humidity. For Manitoba farmers, greater availability of water vapour will make it more likely for precipitation events to tend to the extreme.