Time To Think About Severe Weather

Last issue we began our look into severe weather and ended our discussion by introducing tornadoes. Over the last week there have been several outbreaks of severe weather over central and eastern parts of the U.S., with dozens of tornadoes reported and nearly 50 people killed. While this is still well to our south, it

Severe Weather Season About To Begin

In trying to decide what weather tidbit we should look at this week, I hummed and hawed about the ongoing flooding, but decided the regular news is covering that topic nicely. So far this spring has been fairly uneventful, with little in the way of unusual weather. It hasn’t been overly cold and it definitely


Spring Can Give Us Some Heavy Snow

With spring starting to make itself felt across the region and all the talk about the deep snow and flood potential, I thought I would bring up what could be an alarming weather fact: some of our heaviest snowfalls occur during the spring! I thought I would dig back into the weather records and share

Climate Change Brings Stronger Storms

Witnesses to Cyclone Yasi’s destructive tear across northeastern Australia described it as a monster for its size and ferocity. It was also an omen. Climate scientists say global warming is heating up the world’s oceans and atmosphere, providing more fuel for tropical cyclones and creating ever-greater risks for crops, miners and billion-dollar beachfronts. The risks


Worrying About Snow Amounts?

I’m not sure why, but the talk around the water cooler seems to a have a definite lean toward snow – in particular, just how much snow we’ve received this winter. The problem I have with these discussions is that I’m just not sure why everyone thinks we have huge amounts of snow. Maybe it’s

Issued: Monday, August 9, 2010 Covering: August 11 –August 18

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


Forecast – for Jul. 29, 2010

It is looking like the first half of this forecast period will be warm and unsettled. The weather models are showing several chances of showers and thunderstorms as a couple of small areas of low pressure move through our forecast region. The first of these lows is forecasted to move through around Friday with a

Issued: Monday, July 12, 2010 Covering: July 14 –July 21

This forecast period starts off with a rather strong upper-level low tracking across southern and central Manitoba. Fortunately for us, this low doesn’t look as though it will linger as they tended to do this spring; it should move out by Thursday. Thursday will see a mix of sun and clouds, with western areas seeing


Crop Report – for Jul. 8, 2010

SOUTHWEST REGION Large storms on the weekend resulted in yard damage in some areas. There were reports of high winds with hail in areas including Hartney, south of Souris, and through to Nesbitt. Field conditions started to dry up with the warmer temperatures. Cereal crops showed the greatest improvement; several producers started applying fungicides. Canola

Issued: Monday, June 28, 2010 Covering: June 30 –July 7

This forecast period starts off with fairly quiet nice summer weather, but it doesn’t look like we’ve rounded the corner just yet on the unsettled stormy weather we’ve been experiencing for the last couple of months. While temperatures look as if they will remain fairly mild, we will see clouds and the chance of thunderstorms