Everyone loves snow days and beautiful weather the winter brings. But sometimes too much snow can bring some problems like difficult driving conditions and power outages. The winter forecast for Canada shows different temperatures and not as much snow, as it was last year.
Based on the North American Ensemble Forecast System's values (NAEFS), Hasell said, "Looking at the values for the sixth of March to the 13th of March most models are pointing to below normal temperatures continuing at least in southern Manitoba. That doesn't mean extreme cold necessarily but it does mean below normal."
Warning Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada, Natalie Hasell said after this week and the weekend of cold temperatures, we'll see a very slow, gradual increase in temperatures. "We probably won't be in extreme cold conditions for too long starting next week but we're not going to be near normal anytime soon, It looks like a good chunk of March is going to remain in the below normal trend."
The City of Winnipeg is warming that ice on the city's retention ponds is not safe. We talked to Mark Reshaur, Assistant Chief with the Winnipeg fire and paramedics about the thin ice warning in Winnipeg. "We need to be watching out for all the ice, we need to stay off the creeks, we need to stay off the rivers and we need to stay off the retention ponds."
As spring approaches it is important to recognize the longer days and sunshine is melting all the ice in around the city. Reshaur explained the thin ice warning is actually in effect year-round for retention ponds as the ice conditions are not routinely monitored. Reshaur says the city recommends people to stay off of retention ponds year round.
For Winnipeggers, the cold isn’t going away any time soon. Forecasts are calling for temperatures in the -20 to -30 C ranges for at least a week, and long-range models from Environment and Climate Change Canada indicates temperatures are likely to stay below normal until nearly the middle of March.