Manitoba weather update: Smoke lingers in province

Daniel Halmarson has your current conditions and updated weather forecast for July 11, 2025.

Wildfire smoke is blanketing most of Manitoba Friday prompting air quality warnings for the southeast and northwest.

The latest warning – issued Friday morning – includes Winnipeg, Steinbach, Selkirk, Pinawa, Gimli, Grand Beach and Emerson. The warning stretches into Northwest Ontario including Kenora and Dryden.

The heat and humidity felt throughout southern Manitoba on Thursday has disappeared for the time being, but the chance of showers and risk of thunderstorms heading into the weekend remains.

A severe thunderstorm watch was issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on Thursday afternoon as a cold front swept across the region. The alert was raised to warning levels in places like Gimli and Souris around dinnertime.

Crawford Luke, an ECCC meteorologist, told CTV News the weather agency received around a dozen hail reports in Manitoba last night.

“The largest hail we saw was over in Pleasant Valley, and it ranged from the size of toonies up to the size of golf balls, which is pretty substantial,” Luke explained.

Pleasant Valley is located approximately one hour southeast of Brandon towards the U.S. border.

He said places like Gimli and Carberry also saw toonie-sized hail in the evening, while quarter-sized hail was reported in Mitchell overnight.

Later in the evening, ECCC issued a tornado warning for the RM of Cartwright-Roblin. Meteorologists were tracking a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado. However, Luke said ECCC hadn’t received any reports or videos of a tornado in the area.

He added both Gimli and Killarney – despite the distance between the two towns – each received around 31 mm of rain over the course of the evening.

“But widespread, maybe five to 10 millimeters, which is what we typically see with thunderstorms in the summer.”

No severe thunderstorm alerts have been issued this afternoon for southern Manitoba, but we could see showers throughout the afternoon into the evening.

Daytime highs in the low to mid 20s are expected throughout Manitoba on Friday under smoky skies.

Southern Manitoba should see more sunshine over the weekend with daytime highs hovering around 27 C, while rain and the risk of thunderstorms shifts to the north.