Stormy weather blows across Manitoba

Manitobans are bracing for some stormy weatherwith some wild temperature swings.

Between 10 and 15 centimetres of snow is expected to fall in a band from northwestern Manitoba down to the Whiteshell area. There is also a risk of freezing rain over the southernmost areas.

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As well, temperatures across much of Manitoba are going to drastically warm up by anywhere fromeight to 23 degrees.

It's all due to a low pressure area developing in northern Saskatchewan. The system will rapidly intensify and race southeastwardto Red Lake, Ont.,by this evening, according to Environment Canada.

January thunderstorm?

The Dauphin region is expected to get as warm as 4 C after starting the morning at14 C,while in the Interlake Region, around Gimli, it is expected to reach 0 C after starting at23 C.

Winnipeg, sitting at22 C just before 7 a.m. (with a wind chill that made it feel more like33), is forecast to warm up to2. Aboutabout five to10 cm of snow is expected in the city.

There is also a risk of a brief bout of freezing rain and possibly thunderstormon Wednesday afternoon, according to CBC meteorologist John Sauder.

The warmer temperatures are being ushered in by strong southern winds that willblow around that new snow, causing visibility issues.

The winds will shift to the north by Thursday and bringback the freeze, dropping temperatures close to20 C.

Snow clearing

The City of Winnipeg has 300 pieces of equipment working around the clock to deal with the latest storm.

The truck plowing operations started at10 a.m. with afocus on major routes andregional streets.

There is noword on when residential plowing will begin. The city said it is still trying to clear sidewalks that were supposed to be done byMonday.