Winnipeg Weather

News Manitoba
Scary warm weather
Snow would be ‘freakish’: meteorologist
By ROSS ROMANIUK, Winnipeg Sun
Last Updated: October 9, 2010 10:55pm

It’s a warm slice of summer weather, to the point that you might call this month Hotober.
No matter how Winnipeg’s current balmy, even sweltering conditions are described, they’re a welcome burst of August-like temperatures at a time when we’re normally putting away shorts and sandals.

At Assiniboine Park on Saturday, Paul Gray said he was “just kind of chilling” on a park bench after parking his Ford Mustang GT convertible — with its top down — as the temperature hovered around 24 C.

“It’s beautiful,” he said of the weather. “You’ve got to take advantage of it.”

The mercury in the city was expected to climb as high as 25 C Saturday, but Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Carlsen said these kinds of temperatures — even while about 12 degrees above “normal” — aren’t all that unusual for this time of year.

“It’s an exceptionally warm day but nothing we haven’t seen before,” he said, noting Winnipeg and other Manitoba cities and towns weren’t even that close to breaking heat records for Oct. 9.
The record high temperature for Winnipeg for that date, said Carlsen, is 27.8 C — set in 1938.
And in Brandon, the record high mark is 29.4 C. In Portage la Prairie, the hottest-ever Oct. 9 was 28.9 C, and in Swan River it had once reached a sizzling 30.6 C on that date.

“It’s really warm,” Carlsen said. “But the records all over southern Manitoba are 28 or 29 degrees for this day.”

Interestingly, Winnipeg saw what Carlsen described as a “freakish” several centimetres of snow fall on the same date last year, and about 50 cm in the Whiteshell region — though it all melted quickly.

No one at the Scoops On Main ice cream shop, however, had snow on their minds on Saturday while waiting for treats.

“This is good for anyone who has a seasonal business,” owner Matt Schwartz said at his north Main Street store, while 15 customers lined up. “We’ll stay open this year as long as we can.”
The warmth is coming, explained Carlsen, with a strong air-flow from the Pacific Ocean and heading over the northern Prairies.

Julian Fedrizzi calls it “amazing” to cruise through Assiniboine Park in his Mazda Miata convertible, top down, and get out to walk in shorts.

“It’s almost the middle of October, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “But that’s how it is.”
Walking with him, Lena Costa appeared ready for anything but fall and winter.

“You can go to the beach in a bikini. It’s wonderful,” she said. “Everything is great. Just keep it coming.”

Carlsen said Winnipeg will cool down slightly Monday evening, while maintaining “above normal” temperatures during the week and likely climbing back to about the 20 C range toward next weekend