Weather to take a turn for the worse later today

A meteorologist with Environment Canada says it will be, at times, a little snowy for the back half of the long weekend for southern Manitoba with a few different systems expected to pass through over the next 48 hours.

Terri Lang refers to it as a mixed bag of weather. She says the systems headed our way are from the Mackenzie Valley of the Northwest Territories.

"People should expect some snow, of course, as these systems come through," explains Lang. 

And, because of the winds associated with these systems, Lang says there will also be blowing snow as they pass through. 

According to Lang, it looks like the last of the systems will pass through Sunday night and into Monday. She notes that the last system could probably provide a decent amount of snow. By the time we wake up Tuesday morning, Lang says there may be an additional five to ten centimeters of snow on the ground from all of the systems over the course of the weekend.

"With the wind blowing things around, it may even seem like a little bit more, just because it will pile up," she points out.

Lang says she does not anticipate the snow and blowing snow will be enough to warrant any type of warning this weekend. However, either way, she advises motorists to check the local forecast and take note of road reports before venturing out. As of Saturday afternoon, there were no watches or warnings for the Portage area.

Meanwhile, this Louis Riel long weekend is also seeing a mixed bag of temperatures. The normal high for this time of year is -6 degrees. Today, things are getting close to the zero mark. Expect it to cool down quickly tonight though and Sunday and Monday's high will only reach -16. 

Even these temperatures might all seem warm compared to what is in store for southern Manitoba next week. By Wednesday, the forecast high is for -25 degrees, which may make it one of the coldest days of the winter. Lang says it looks like that cold weather will last the rest of next week at least.