‘Historic’ storm with heavy snow, strong winds hits southern Manitoba

It’s being described as one of the worst storms in decades.

The blizzard hit southern Manitoba and Winnipeg Tuesday night.

Weather warnings have expanded for much of southern Manitoba, including the City of Winnipeg. Environment Canada is advising of hazardous winter conditions.

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Heavy snow, strong winds and poor visibility – it’s a mix of brutal winter ingredients expected to lead to a disastrous spring storm.

Much of southern Manitoba is preparing for 30-50 centimetres of snow, while Environment Canada is predicting up to 80 centimetres of snow in some areas.

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“Everything associated to this storm will be impacted,” said Natalie Hasell, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s warning preparedness meteorologist. “The snow itself, the accumulation of snow will make navigation difficult. Dealing with roads, dealing with sidewalks, parking lots, basically all surfaces will be affected.

“This storm has been described as historic.”

The snow is expected to taper off by Friday afternoon.

Winds gusts are expected to be around 70 km/h and as high as 90 km/h, which will lead to blowing snow.

Temperatures are expected to hover between 0 C and minus-5 C, which Hasell says will create heavy, wet snow.

“It will be a difficult time to shovel this out,” she said.

Highways are expected to close all across the southern portion of the province.

“Stay at home, check before you leave, know what is open, what’s not, because it does cause concern and it’s a safety (issue) if you do get stranded out there,” said Cpl. Julie Courchaine with the Manitoba RCMP.

By 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 18 highways were closed due to poor visibility. Highways closed are as follows:

• Highway 1 from Headingley to the Saskatchewan Border,
• Highway 2 from Highway 100 to Souris,
• Highway 3 from Highway 100 to South Jct of Highway 83,
• Highway 3A from Crystal City to Highway 3,
• Highway 5 from USA border to Highway 261,
• Highway 6 from Highway 101 to Lundar,
• Highway 7 from Highway 101 to Komarno,
• Highway 10 from the USA border to Highway 45,
• Highway 13 from Highway 1 to Carman,
• Highway 14 from Highway 75 to Highway 3,
• Highway 16 from Highway 1 to Minnedosa,
• Highway 18 from the US Border to Highway 2,
• Highway 21 from USA border to Highway 23,
• Highway 23 from Highway 21 to Highway 75,
• Highway 50, from Highway 16 to Silver Ridge
• Highway 100 from Highway 1 East to Highway 1 West,
• Highway 101 from Highway 1 West to Highway 1 East,
• Highway 190 from Highway 101 to Highway 7.

Highway 75 from Winnipeg city limits to USA border has since been reopened.

Wednesday’s Winnipeg Jets game at Canada Life Centre has been postponed to Sunday.

Tomorrow’s @SeattleKraken at @NHLJets game postponed. https://t.co/J2frEWzmuN pic.twitter.com/vOCFu8QWn2

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 12, 2022

School divisions in Winnipeg are cancelling school bus transportation for Wednesday and Thursday but a decision to fully close schools has not yet been made.

It’s been a quarter of a century since Winnipeg schools were forced to close due to blizzard-like conditions – the last time was in April 1997.

“We will continue to watch the storm and are contemplating school closures, but we are just not ready to take that step if there is a chance it doesn’t track as predicted,” said Brian O’Leary, the superintendent at Seven Oaks School Division.

“We will review forecast and the progress of the storm at the end of the day, and we will make a decision no later than 6 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.”

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The town of Morris, about 70 kilometres south of Winnipeg, is not only bracing for the spring storm, but bracing for potential flooding post-blizzard.

“We’re not quite certain how much moisture is there, and we still have some water runoff and snow melt, so this is a unique challenge, certainly,” said Ralph Groening, reeve for the rural municipality of Morris.

Groening says the snowfall will impact the flood forecast, but he believes Manitoba is much more equipped to handle floods now than it was in ‘97.

“Without being overconfident, we are fairly certain that we can manage even a pretty significant event,” he said. “We are, from that perspective, able to manage any water event that we might be subjected to this spring.”