File photo of Lake Winnipeg at Grand Beach Provincial Park. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast Update: Wet weather for southern Manitoba, southeastern Saskatchewan

Update issued Oct. 2, covering Oct. 2-4

The strong area of low pressure that the weather models have been forecasting to impact the eastern half of the Prairies on Tuesday and Wednesday is starting to take shape. The latest model runs show the low pushing northward into western Manitoba early on Tuesday morning and then moving off toward northwestern Ontario by late

Early-spring and late-fall frosts

The Winnipeg area may see a record-long frost-free stretch this year

It’s time to talk about fall frost and the length of this year’s frost-free season. So far, most areas of agricultural Manitoba have not yet experienced frost – or have they? Data for major centres shows a number of locations came close to frost on Sept. 12, and I found 10 to 15 locations did


File photo of autumn colours around Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. (Nancy Anderson/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast: Summer tries to hang on

Issued Sept. 27, covering Sept. 27 to Oct. 4

For being this far into fall, the weather models have been surprisingly accurate. Heck, I didn’t even need to send an update for the last issue! Not sure if I can be as optimistic for this forecast period, as we are moving deeper into fall and starting to see the first hints of winter trying

El Niño and chaos theory

Will Western Canada have the textbook warm and dry El Niño winter?

El Niño can affect the kind of weather we might expect this winter. The formation and movement of one system can impact how other systems behave around the world. This is called teleconnection, which refers to the long-distance relationships or connections between climate events that occur in different parts of the world. This fundamental concept


An initial swath in a canola crop north of St. Adolphe, Man. on Sept. 17, 2023. (Dave Bedard photo)

Prairie Forecast: Warm fall weather to continue

Issued Sept. 20, covering Sept. 20-27

Even with some uncertainty in the last forecast, the weather models did a surprisingly good job. At one point it looked like I was going to have to send out an update as the models started trending toward a cooler pattern, but they quickly reversed back to a warm pattern. This brought the expected heat



Winnipeg, Sept. 7, 2023. (Dave Bedard photo)

Prairie Forecast: Summer trying to hang on

Issued Sept. 6, covering Sept. 6 to 13

The weather models seem to be in good agreement for this forecast period, with no strong storm systems expected to impact the Prairies, making for a fairly high-confidence forecast. This forecast period will start off with a generally west to southwesterly flow across the Prairies. A broad but weak area of low pressure is expected

Durum plants on Aug. 28, 2023 near Acadia Valley, Alta., about 160 km north of Medicine Hat, stand shorter with fewer kernels than normal due to dry conditions. (Photo courtesy Darold Niwa/Handout via Reuters)

Prairie Forecast: Mostly sunny and warm

Issued Aug. 30, covering Aug. 30 to Sept. 6

It’s a straightforward forecast for this period as the general weather pattern looks to be pretty quiet. It starts with a large area of high pressure centred over the Great Lakes with a weak area of low pressure over Alberta. The Great Lakes high will put sunny skies and warm temperatures over much of Manitoba


Prairie forecast: unsettled to start then clearing and warmer

Prairie forecast: unsettled to start then clearing and warmer

Issued Aug. 23, covering Aug. 23 to 30

Once again, the weather models are in good agreement so confidence in this forecast is fairly high. The only possible issue is that the different weather systems are rather weak which means timing of the systems can change easily. This forecast period starts off with two weak areas of low pressure, one over southern Manitoba,