Winter weary Southern Manitobans will be dealing with their second Alberta clipper in two days, and the return of Blizzard conditions for a second consecutive day, as the latest low pressure system to dive out of Northern Alberta swings through the province Saturday. Blizzard Warnings are in effect for most of the region including the Pilot Mound, Manitou, Carman, Winkler, Morden, Altona, Morris, Emerson, Vita, Steinbach and Winnipeg areas.  

"For the fourth time this week a clipper will bring impactful weather, and I have to say, I do not recall a stretch in recent memory of that many systems in such a short period of time moving through our area," said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "We are expecting a similar story to play out Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon as Friday, but there will be a few differences with this system compared to yesterday's. Temperatures will be much warmer than Friday with gusty southerly winds pulling warmer air into the area, and we're also expecting more snow this time around."

According to Environment Canada, strong southerly winds between 50 and 70 km/h will develop by midday Saturday, leading to blizzard conditions with extremely poor visibility through Saturday afternoon. The strongest winds will again be in the Red River Valley and Southeastern corner of the province, with Southwest Manitoba seeing slightly less wind speeds.

"Those southerlies will start us on a wild ride of temperature swings over the next 24 to 36 hours, going from -25 to -30 Saturday morning to -3 to +3 Saturday afternoon and holding relatively warm overnight, and then plunging Sunday as a cold front moves through, and temperatures sink throughout the day to the -19 to -22 range," noted Sumner.

Winds will ease Saturday evening, just as another area of snow moves into the region. Snow will continue through much of Saturday night as it slowly moves southwards out of the province. Storm-totals may reach as high as 10-15 cm in some areas. Based on the current expected track of the clipper, the highest totals are projected for the Southeastern part of the province. Sumner pointed out snow isn't the only precipitation factor to take into account Saturday, with the warmer airmass leading to a risk of freezing rain tonight in most areas, and possibly even rainfall for the southwest where the warmest temperatures are expected.

"As the low moves out of the province, northerly winds will develop overnight Saturday lasting throughout much of Sunday, with gusts of 50 to 70 km/h, 30 to 50 km/h in the western part of the province," he added. "The additional snowfall, plus the strong winds will lead to another round of blowing snow and poor visibility for much of Sunday. We're expecting conditions to improve late Sunday afternoon as the wind slows starts to back-off. I want to stress, Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon will once again present very challenging driving conditions, and we can expect near zero-visibility at times in areas within the Blizzard Warning."

Looking ahead to Louis Riel Day Monday, a calmer pattern will being as a ridge of arctic high pressure builds in, also bringing with it well below average temperatures for this time of year. Highs Monday through Thursday next week will be in the -17 to -23 range, which is 10 to 15 degrees below where we should be for this point in February. Average high right now is -6 and the average low is -15.