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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Your Weekend Weather

By: Doug Speirs

Posted: 12/15/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

It's possible we're just overcome with the spirit of giving, but the Weather Column has a couple of special holiday treats for you this weekend.

Your first treat is a magical holiday poem we composed ourselves minutes after returning from a trip to New Mexico, which, surprisingly, is a lot (bad word) warmer than Winnipeg. It goes like this:

Twas 10 days before Christmas

And all through the city

Drivers were freaking out

Because the roads were so ... um ... slippery!

Is that a heart-warming holiday poem, or what? OK, never mind. Let's move on to your second special treat, which is the news that, with a little help from Environment Canada, we have arranged to give everyone a little break from the recent bone-chilling, soul-destroying deep freeze.

Get ready to put on your Bermuda shorts and Tie-dye T-shirts because the weather office wants you to know that today will be partly sunny with a glorious high of -6 C, which is a whole four degrees warmer than the normal high of -10 C at this chaotic but festive time of year.

So get outside and bask in those tropical conditions, because the rest of the week looks less jolly, starting with Sunday, wherein you can expect a mix of sun and clouds and a high of only -11 C. It's kind of downhill from there, but, if you can hold on until Thursday, the forecast calls for a sunny day without any clouds at all.

Now let's take a moment to discuss festive things for you to do this weekend. Ha ha ha, just kidding. You need to get off the couch, hop in the car and finish the rest of your Christmas shopping, don't you? Make sure to bring a giant novelty candy cane to ward off the rest of the holiday shoppers, who have been driven insane by the fact Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer has been playing on a loop in every mall since before Halloween.

For everyone who finished their shopping early -- and I'm talking to both of you -- there's lots of cool stuff to do. For starters, head to the Atomic Centre, 167 Logan Ave., from 6 p.m. today to 6 p.m. Sunday and join the volunteer mechanics taking part in Cycle of Giving, a 24-hour kids' bike-building marathon hoping to put together over 200 bicycles for local children in need. Get more info at thewrench.ca.

Or slip and slide down to the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre at 445 King St. today from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to lend a hand packing and delivering hampers for their 10th annual Christmas Hamper Drive

If you haven't had your fill of Christmas lights yet, check out the light display from the tiny train cars of the Assiniboine Valley Railway. Call 204-837-1305 for more info. Then dash through the snow to Canad Inns Winter Wonderland at Red River Exhibition Park, where you can drive through 29 themed areas featuring more than a million sparkly lights along a 2.5-kilometre route of holiday joy. Tickets are $15 at the gate and $10 in advance at any Canad Inns location.

Speaking of kids, you can drag them to centre court at The Forks today and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to burn off some of that excess festive energy making their own holiday crafts.

Whatever you do, quit griping about the weather and acting like a Grinch or I will be forced to take drastic action in the form of writing another (very bad word) holiday poem.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 15, 2012 A2

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