February begins with blizzard blast 

Many Manitobans are waking to up winter white-out conditions today as a strong Alberta clipper makes its way through the province. 

“With the system moving in from Saskatchewan, we saw the onset of the conditions in Manitoba in western Manitoba,” says Environment Canada meteorologist Shannon Moodie.  “So they deteriorated earlier in the night.”

As a result, a number of highway closures are reported in the western part of the province, including the Parkland area with hazardous highway conditions and poor visibility reported. 

In Winnipeg, conditions are expected to worsen over the early morning morning hours with northwest winds gusting up to 90 km/h. Combined with falling snow, visibility is expected to be near-zero. 

“The airport was actually down to zero miles (of visibility),” says Moodie from the Environment Canada downtown location in Winnipeg, noting that she could “literally hear the wind through the windows.”

“We’re really looking at the worst of the conditions this morning” 

By late Tuesday morning, things should start to improve as the system continues its move eastward. 

“Later this morning and through the early afternoon is when we’re going to see the snow taper off and the winds will gradually diminish,” says Moodie. “That’s when we’ll see the improvement.”