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Your weekend weather

By: Doug Speirs

Posted: 09/29/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

If there are a few more glaring typos than usual in today's forecast, we hope you will cut the Weather Column a little slack.

Our fingers are like icicles and we cannot get our teeth to stop chattering because we spent the night sleeping on the cold ground at the extremely windy corner of Portage and Main.

The Weather Column was among more than 50 business and community leaders taking part in the second annual Downtown Winnipeg BIZ CEO Sleepout, which raises money and awareness for programs to help the city's homeless get off the streets.

The idea here is that us big shots would get a tiny taste of what it's like to be homeless to encourage you, kind-hearted Winnipeggers, to open your minds and your wallets.

Even though Thursday night and Friday morning were not insanely cold, the Weather Column, which is battling the Killer Cold from Hell, was transformed into a shivering, snoring human Popsicle due to the fact his flimsy antique sleeping bag was guaranteed to keep its occupant warm only if that person were sleeping in his own living room.

We cannot imagine what it would be like for someone who had no choice but to sleep on the streets. And that is pretty much the point. Before we elaborate, we would like to point out that summer, which is officially over, has decided to make a return engagement this weekend in a bid to ensure we all know what we'll be missing when winter arrives.

For example, Environment Canada says today's unseasonable outlook calls for sunny skies and a sizzling high of 26 C, which is 11 entire degrees above the normal high of 15 C at this point in fall. On Sunday, look for a high of 22 C and a few clouds. Temperatures should return to normal by Monday and dip to a bracing 11 C by Wednesday and Thursday. So break out your woolly sweaters and prepare to leap in a pile of crunchy autumn leaves.

If leaf-jumping doesn't turn you on, grab the kids and head to the Winnipeg Art Gallery today from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. to wish the WAG a happy 100th birthday. It barely looks 98. We're talking clowns, magic, art-making workshops, birthday cupcakes and more. For you grown-ups, check out the WAG's Nuit Blanche event, which runs from 6 p.m. today to 6 a.m. Sunday.

Need more culture? We've got more culture. How about the third annual Culture Days Manitoba featuring more than 250 awesome free events in the city and communities across the province. Visit www.culturedays.ca for a complete schedule.

Animal lovers can get in the groove Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. at the first-ever Sagkeeng Spay/Neuter Initiative Program's Rez-cue Adoption Day fundraising event at St. Emile's Church hall and parking lot, 556 St. Anne's Road. There will be adoptable dogs and puppies, a silent auction, a barbecue and more.

The best news is there's still time for you to help the Downtown BIZ's Change for the Better program reach its $150,000 goal for helping the homeless. Just go to www.changeforthebetter.org and click the "donate now" button (hopefully the one under the Weather Column's photo).

Trust us, regardless of your sleeping bag or the temperature, it will make you feel warm all over.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 29, 2012 A2

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