Manitoba braces as winter storm watch becomes a warning

The winter storm watch for southern Manitoba is now a winter storm warning and the province is bracing for what could be the biggest storm in years.

“The blizzard warning is for slightly worse visibility that we’re expecting west of here, so that’s a quarter-mile of visibility or less for four hours or more,” said Environment Canada’s Chris Stammer on 680CJOB.

Travelling could be dangerous and It is recommended that people avoid it if they can.

Try to stock up on medication as well as supplies, and prepare for a potential power outage.

“Wind is the culprit that brings this all together in a nasty way,” said Greg Gust of the U.S. National Weather Service.

It is expected to begin early Tuesday evening with snow coming up from the U.S. and pushing north overnight.

Fifteen to 20 centimetres of snow is likely by Wednesday afternoon in Winnipeg, with a potential for another dumping Wednesday night through to Thursday night.

The snow is going to be accompanied by a strong northerly wind which will gust between 60 to 70 km/h an hour.

Early Friday, the storm is expected to peter out, yet Environment Canada says there may be a break from the snow for a short while Wednesday afternoon or evening.

Flooding continues to be a concern on people’s minds especially given the massive blizzard that hit Manitoba 25 years ago that started a chain of events that led to the “flood of the century.”

“We’re seeing a signal to maybe going above zero, kind of around the middle of next week, and even then it looks like a slow melt at that, so that’s encouraging news for the flood situation,” Stammers said.

Some people are starting to draw comparisons between this storm and the one the province had in 1997 but Stammers said at least in Winnipeg, it may not reach those heights.

“I don’t think we will be quite that bad in the city but certainly west of here could see some pretty high amounts similar to that.”