Another low pressure system is set to make its way across the 49th parallel. 

Strong winds, heavy snow and heavy rain are expected this weekend throughout the southern half of Manitoba. 

“Basically, it’s a Colorado Low — again — coming up through the dakotas Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” says Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Luzny. 

Expected to arrive Friday morning, the system should bring plenty of precipitation to the Red River Valley, especially over the weekend.

“With that storm on Saturday, that Colorada Low is a lot closer to us so we could see some enhanced rainfall rates with some imbedded thunderstorms along with that rain” says Luzny. 

Paired with the “most intense day of rain" are wind gusts up to 90 km/h on Saturday. If rain changes to an ice pellet/snow mix, reduced visibilities are expected, likely making travel difficult. 

Temperatures are expected to cool on Sunday and that may bring a rain/snow mix for the City of Winnipeg. 

Luzny emphasizes that the size of the system and potential deviation from the storm track does mean there is still some “uncertainty.” 

“One or two degrees may make a big difference whether [parts of Manitoba] see 20 cm of snow in a period or 20 mm of rain,” says Luzny, who notes this is especially true in the Brandon area.

Further north, into the interlake and parkands which typically experience colder temperatures, anywhere between 20 and 40 cm of snowfall could accumulate over the three days as a “large swath of snow” is expected, according to Luzny.