April snowstorm sweeps into southern Manitoba | CBC News

Streets and highways — and pretty much everything else outside in southern Manitoba — are layered in snow, and it’s likely only going to get worse as the day goes on.

A Colorado low moved into the province overnight and will continue to impact nearly the entire region through the day, slowly moving further north into the Interlake.

The massive system runs from the Manitoba escarpment in the west, right across the southern part of the province and well into Ontario.

Manitoba’s southeast corner is expected to be hardest hit, with 20-25 centimetres expected before the system moves out Thursday, Environment Canada forecast.

The Red River Valley, including Winnipeg, will likely get 10-15 cm and western Manitoba is looking at totals of 5-10 cm.

Communities closer to the international border saw the start of the storm on Tuesday evening but it was only a tease in Winnipeg, where it didn’t begin in earnest until closer to 11 p.m., Environment Canada meteorologist Rose Carlsen said.

“We did get an early band around 5 p.m. [in the city], but that wasn’t really the start of the big show itself,” Carlsen said.

As of 7 a.m., 6-9 centimetres of snow had fallen in Winnipeg and about double that further south around Steinbach, she said.

“It is a little early for a ton of reports, but that’s what we’ve gotten so far. We’re expecting the most in the Sprague and Whiteshell region, but we haven’t gotten any reports out of there so far.”

The conditions have prompted many school divisions to cancel classes for the day.

Heavy snow will fall through the day before tapering off by evening, leaving some light stuff lingering overnight, Carlsen said.

Winds are expected to really pick up around midday. They only recently increased in North Dakota, closer to where the system is centred, but it’s slowly moving northward, Carlsen said.

The winds will lead to a significant reduction in visibility for most of southern Manitoba.

Ken Allen, communications co-ordinator for the City of Winnipeg’s public works department, said road-clearing crews are out plowing and salting.

About 200 pieces of equipment are working to clear main routes and bus routes and the collector streets that feed into those primary streets.

“We hit those Priority 1 streets and Priority 2 streets right away. They’re the ones that carry 80 per cent of the traffic travelling at faster speeds,” Allen said. “The bridges, underpasses are also a priority.”

And if the snow keeps coming, those routes will need another pass.

“So we’ll be plowing today and salting until we reach that surface level,” Allen said.

Crews also hope to get to sidewalks and active transportation paths later in the day.

Residential streets and alleys will be tackled only if trouble spots are noted by city inspection crews.

“There’s some wind out there, so there’s going to be blown-in areas,” Allen said.

Meanwhile, the province has closed a couple of highways due to poor driving conditions caused by snow-covered roads and blowing snow:

• Highway 14, from Highway 32 to Highway 75.
• Highway 16, from Minnedosa to Highway 50.