Messy Weekend Clipper Expected to Bring Widespread 10-20cm of Snow and Risk of Freezing Rain to the Prairies
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It’s going to be a messy weekend across the Prairies with a Clipper expected to bring over 10cm of snow in a swath from Edmonton, through Saskatoon, to Winnipeg. This will be the first considerable snowfall of the season for the Winnipeg area, which has lagged behind the rest of the Prairie provinces by a couple of weeks.
The snow won’t be the only concern from this storm; there will be the risk of freezing rain across the region in pockets where temperatures will climb a degree or two above freezing. On top of the snow and freezing rain, some areas will also see rain from this storm, making for a mixed bag of a weekend!
Alberta
Our Clipper will start to make its way into Alberta in the Northern Rockies as a disorganized mess of rain, snow, and mixed precipitation mid-morning Saturday. Temperatures are expected to climb above freezing across much of Southern and Central Alberta so as the system pushes eastward into the province through the afternoon, the precipitation should fall as rain.
Things become much more organized in the evening and as temperatures start to fall, most of the rain in Central Alberta will switch over to snow. There will be the risk of brief freezing rain during this transition which could make surfaces quite icy before being covered with snow. With the organization of the storm, snowfall rates will increase and snow accumulations above 10cm should start around Edmonton and continue east-southeastward along the track of the storm.
As the system starts to exit the province early Sunday morning, some precipitation will actually push into Southern Alberta. There will be brief freezing rain along the leading edge, bringing trace ice accretion to Red Deer and eastward, followed by some moderate snowfall that will lead to 5-10cm of snow to the area, including Medicine Hat. The snow will taper off in the west through Sunday morning, but it is expected to linger in the east through the day.
Saskatchewan
The storm will extend into Saskatchewan starting in the late afternoon or early evening on Saturday. With the temperatures in the single digits, it will start off as a narrow band of rain. As the temperatures fall later in the evening, however, we expect there to be a transition over to freezing rain that will last for several hours as the storm continues its path southeastward. There could be a considerable track of ice accretion of 2-5mm that stretches from Saskatoon through Moosomin and into Southwest Manitoba.
Unfortunately, the freezing rain will eventually transition to snow from west to east overnight, which will cover the frozen ground, making things even more slippery. This snow will be moderate to heavy at times, with snowfall rates up to 2cm per hour, resulting in snowfall totals of 10-20cm over a wide stretch of the province.
During early morning hours of Sunday, snow will start to wrap around from the west, bringing 5-10cm of snow to Southwest and West Central Saskatchewan and lesser amounts along the International border. The snow will start to dissipate Sunday afternoon before ending Monday morning in the southeast corner of the province.
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Manitoba
In a similar fashion to what is expected in Saskatchewan, as the Clipper crosses into Manitoba overnight Saturday, the leading edge will bring freezing rain into the province. This is only expected in the southwest corner of the province and the greatest ice accretion of 2-5mm will be found in an area that includes Virden and Boissevain.
After a few hours of freezing rain, the snow will follow and spread eastward across Manitoba through the morning. The storm will grow in size as the snow wraps around from the west in the early morning and the arrival of heavier snow in the afternoon will lead to a wider area receiving 10-20cm. The storm will start to push into Northern Ontario early Sunday afternoon and the snow will start to taper off overnight before eventually exiting the region by early Monday afternoon.
Widespread wind gusts of 50-70km/h are expected with the Clipper so on top of surfaces being quite icy over a wide area, blowing snow will be a concern As a result, we may see some highway closures throughout the duration of the storm. Road conditions will likely be very poor in the hardest hit areas so please take extra caution when travelling this weekend!
