Prairies ‘welcome’ back winter

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This article was published 27/10/2010 (5703 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A nasty storm system making its way north from the United States is giving the Prairies their first taste of winter.

This while Toronto and Ottawa were enjoying temperatures around the 20 C mark Tuesday.

The weather pattern, which originated over Minnesota, is expected to give southwestern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan a significant dose of snow.

Snowfall warnings remained in effect late Tuesday in many areas of those provinces.

Rain in southwestern Manitoba was predicted to convert to snow overnight, with up to 25 centimetres expected to fall.

Upwards of 15 centimetres of snow was forecast for Regina, while some areas of the province in higher elevations might see snowfall totals of about 25 centimetres. Occasional blowing snow is also in the forecast for that region.

Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada, said the type of system is not that rare, but the strength of the current pattern is what sets it apart.

“Autumn snow periods are not uncommon (for the Prairies), but the depth of this system is unusual,” he said. “It’s unusually strong for this time of year.

“We don’t see many storms (like this) throughout the whole winter, so to have one in late October is unusual. We’d see one or two of these in November, December or January, but it’s early and it’s very deep.

“It will last a few days, but when I say deep, it means the central pressure is very low, which means there’s a very strong pressure gradient, which (leads) to a lot of wind.”

A tornado watch in southwestern Ontario ended Tuesday evening.

The weather system, however, is resulting in mild temperatures in southern and eastern Ontario.

The mercury was expected to top out at 16 C today in Toronto. In Ottawa, a second consecutive day of mild weather forecast today.

Meanwhile, a massive storm with wind gusts up to 130 kph hammered America’s midsection Tuesday, snapping trees and power lines, ripping off roofs, delaying flights and soaking commuters hunched under crumpled umbrellas.

Spanning from the Dakotas to the eastern Great Lakes, the unusual system mesmerized meteorologists because of its size and because it had barometric pressure similar to a Category 3 hurricane, but with much less destructive power.

 

— Postmedia News, with files from The Associated Press