It is going to be a cold Christmas in southern Manitoba.
    
Daytime highs near -20 degrees are expected for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Danielle Desjardins with Environment Canada explains that a ridge of high pressure has been influencing most of the Canadian Prairies over the last several days. That will slowly track east and will be over southern Manitoba for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

According to Desjardins, a Clipper will start forming over Alberta late on Christmas Eve and then track into Saskatchewan by Christmas Day. It will also impact extreme southwestern Manitoba, dropping snow around areas of Virden and Melita. She notes areas to the east will still be impacted by the ridge of high pressure and should not see any snow from this system. 

The normal high for this time of year is -11 degrees. By Monday, the temperature is expected to reach -15 degrees in Steinbach and on Tuesday we could back to above normal temperatures. But Desjardins says a second Alberta Clipper could hit us on Tuesday. The highest snowfall totals with this system will likely be in the Interlake where five to 10 centimetres could fall. The Red River Valley and areas to the east could see anywhere from one to five centimetres. 

Desjardins says there will be a pattern change with our weather next week. 

"We are seeing some warming," she notes. "However, that warming is going to lead to more chances of snow."

In fact, Desjardins says as low-pressure systems track across the Prairies, we may even experience some freezing rain next week. 

Meanwhile, though it may be uncomfortably cold these days in southern Manitoba, Desjardins notes the cold is quiet compared to the weather being experienced in other provinces. A low-pressure system is currently pummeling Ontario, Quebec and The Maritimes. On the other side of Canada, a freezing rain event is anticipated to impact portions of British Columbia.