Heavy rain, snow drenches southern Manitoba

Some parts of Manitoba received more than 15 centimetres of snow, including areas like Brookdale, south of Riding Mountain National Park. (Doreen McLeod)

Parts of southern Manitoba were walloped with rain and snow Friday, with some regions seeing more than 85 millimetres of precipitation.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), as of Saturday morning, Morden and Winkler reported more than 86 millimetres of rainfall, while Deerwood and Carman both saw between 70 and 77 millimetres of precipitation.

In an email to CTV News, Morden mayor Nancy Penner said the city issued a Code Red alert Friday evening asking residents to conserve water and “check that their sump pumps were running outside and not into the sewer system.” As of Saturday morning, however, Penner said “all is quiet.”

“The city only heard of one basement with water issues due to overland flooding. There were no reports of sewer back up,” Penner wrote.

ECCC warning preparedness meteorologist Natalie Hasell said the province has seen a lot of precipitation events over the past month.

“Winnipeg normally only sees about a day or two days with precipitation accumulation greater than 10 millimetres. We’ve had five such events this May,” Hasell said.

According to data from ECCC, Winnipeg saw just under 30 millimetres of rainfall in the latest low-pressure system that moved in from the United States.

The city of Winnipeg told CTV News it will be “in a better position to provide more detailed statistics on rain-related impacts on Monday,” once the system moves out of the area.

Late-May snowfall

Other parts of the province received more than 20 centimetres of snow as of Saturday morning.

ECCC said the International Peace Gardens near the Canada-U.S. border reported up to 25 centimetres of snow, while Riding Mountain National Park saw up to 18 centimetres.

Killarney and Shilo reported between 10 and 15 centimetres of snow and Carberry received 14 centimetres.

Future forecast

According to ECCC, Thursday and Friday’s low-pressure system will continue moving north, and other parts of the province will see rain, and even snow.

While temperatures are currently below average for this time of year, Hasell said clearer and warmer skies are on the horizon.

“We'll see temperatures return to normal by the time we get to Tuesday, Wednesday next week,” Hasell said. “And then we'll have to see what happens then. But the temperatures are forecast to stay around normal or slightly above.”

However, Hasell said people shouldn’t put their umbrellas away just yet, especially as Manitobans head into a new month.

“June is actually our wettest month,” Hasell said. “So we're definitely in that transition period from the drier time of the year.”

“We'll still get precipitation, but the totals here are forecast to be below normal by the time we get to the end of this forecast period,” she said.

Hasell also reminded people to check conditions before driving, and avoid driving or walking on washed out roads.

“You also don't know if there's a sinkhole, so don't drive through these areas either,” Hasell said. “And if you have running moving water, it doesn't take a lot to knock somebody over, or even to pick up their car or to tip a truck.”