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Winter Is Here In Manitoba


55 Fargo

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It's going to get in the 40's today, may even hit 50 later this week . Snow starting to melt, still have a good three inches of snow with 1 inch of ice under it .. Would like to see all that melt of the roofs ! Another cold wave comming this weekend. Hope you are getting some warmer weather in Cananda..........stay warm

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41 above here (Calgary)at 10am, snow all gone from the chinook of the last 3-4 days. Going to near 60 Wed Thur and maybe Fri. Warmer here right now than Vegas :)

That wind was really strong, but can't complain...thats what brings the warm temps and gets rid of the snow.

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I live just south of Pat (120 miles) and we are in the balmy weather as well. Got a sister-in-law and her husband who are snowbirds and are in Arizona right now for the warm weather. LOL. They have the cold and snow and we have 55-60 degree weather. Gotta love global warming/cooling depending on where you live. One thing is for sure, our winters in this part of the world for the last 6-8 years are definitely not what they used to be. They are now much warmer and less snowy.

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Do you folks in Canada live just east of the big mountains,,,close enough to get the schook(sp) winds??? West of here they get alot of them,us not so much. (for the benefit of a inquiring mind) the wind comes down the mountain compresses and warms and is warm enough to melt all the snow,,,when NO snow on the ground it is like 10-15-20 degrees warmer than with. Its alot like putting ice cubes in your drink vs. no ice, room temp thing.

Winters are alot different here also,,,so are summers. Used to be the south hot and dry winds of summer came up and overheated us. dad always said it was the wind coming off the wheat stubbles in Kansas and southern Nebraska,,,when they didnt leave the stubble stand, years later,it isnt so warm. I dont know about THAT one BUT all the center pivots that went in in the 70's and 80's seemed to cool down things too.

We ALWAYS had at least a week or two or more of 100 to 110 temps,,,now a day or two over 100 is pretty rare.

Winters 'always' had snow banks taller than the mature apple trees and we walked over them on the crusted and rock hard snow drifts. Dont know why the snow isnt nearly as deep as the OLD days.

Every spring the creeks flooded once twice or three times a year. Then summer time big rains came along and flooded them again. All the creek lowlands were pastures cause crops couldnt take all the water. NOW all the pastures are about gone and most are now cropland.

When a good late May flood occured we always watched the waterways(usually dry, but under water in high water deals). The carp were always spawning about then. We put chicken wire fences across so the carp couldnt swim back out,,,then receding water we went in and hand fished the carp out,threw them up on the bank and filled gunny sack after gunny sack of carp feast food,,,then cleaned fish for a LONG time!! Alot of local people actually subsisted(sp) on a diet of carp,bull head, and catfish. I remeber my poor grandparents HAD to catch fish to live on when all other food was gone and they needed to eat. We FISHED alot!! AND ate alot of carp with a piece of bread in the other hand to dislodge the extra little bones!!! Fishing with my grandpa was my favorite pastime. His tackle box was a 5 gallon bucket,,,his seat was a board across the top!!(he didnt like chiggers and other bugs from sitting on logs etc.) Cant remember what I sat on,probably my cheapie tackle box store bought, but severly abused.

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We certainly get the Chinook winds in Lethbridge and Calgary where Pat lives. They can dramatically raise the temperature in a very short time and remove a lot of snow very quickly. Used to get one or two good ones a year but lately it seems to be windier in general and warmer temps. The old story about Chinooks was that the horse would be in the snow, the sled would be in the mud and the dog would be kicking up the dust behind. I have literally driven a car into the temperature change and had the windshield fog up with the change in temperature.

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Here In Manitoba, we get the tail end of the Chinooks (warm pacific air) and there effect weakens as it crosses the prairies eastward. Manitoba summers are hotter and far more humid than Alberta summers but we have harder colder winters here. In Manitoba A/C in Buildings and houses are a must, nights don't cool off that much and the air is sticky and hot, very similar to Nebraska summers, lot of thunder storms and tornadoes occasionally but we have a Large Lake here and it has an effect on humidity like the great lake regions. We also have less snow than years ago, but we still get too much for my liking, right now its about 22 degrees outside, mild for January..........Fred PS we have world class Channel Cat fishing right in my back yard practically, the Red River is a 1.5 miles away and loaded with Channel Cats lots of 30 plus pounders and I have caught one myself once, Carp, Silver Bass and world class Walleyes 10 to 15 pounders have caught a 10 pounder myself and it's on my wall in the Fall and winter and the odd Sturgeon

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I guess I never thought much about what the weather is like in Cananda..Also surprised that you have that much variety. I just assummed it was cold and snowy "in Canada ". We got up to about 45 today, here in Kansas,, I hate to admit it , but it actually felt pretty warm , supposed to be 50 tommorrow, then more rain and snow mix Friday, still got a good inch of ice and froozen sleet on the roofs..............One thing I do miss from not living ''up North '' are the Walleyes.....

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Today in Lethbridge it was 16 Celsius or about 60 F with a nice warm wind. Snow is nearly all gone and ground is starting to dry. It felt like a really nice March day. Supposed to get colder starting tomorrow but if this is winter, I'll take it. It is kinda strange to be warmer than some of you US guys way further south. A lot depends on where the jet stream is. It has bee way above us and then dipped down as you moved east. We get warm, you get cold. Ain't this just the thread that will not die. Gotta love it.

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Robert, can we change weather? Today was -15 C, -20 with windchill. I don't know what that is in F.

I just assummed it was cold and snowy "in Canada ".

In my hometime, it is a rare occasion to get snow more than twice a year. We will get about an inch of snow, and the next day it will have melted and gone. However, we get LOTS of rain. Mild weather much like Seattle (which isn't that far away).

We also have a desert in Canada, the Pocket Desert that is a continuation of the Sonoran Desert up from Mexico. They get very minimal rainfall, and very minimal snow as well. Their official highest temperature is around 109.04F.

Because the country is so large, (2nd largest in world, after Russia), there is a huge variety in the climates that are experienced.

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Here is some info on the "Pocket Desert. It really is a beautiful part of the world and I have travelled through it many times to visit family and friends in Victoria and Vancouver, BC. http://www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts/2003/08/29.php

I've been through the okanagan valley myself (back in 80) but I never knew it was considered a desert area.... darn nice area....

Allan

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Can't let this thread die just yet. Pat, Kelowna is nice but I hear horribly expensive. I guess you are in Calgary and know all about that. Never been to Kelowna but would like to go and check out the wineries in that area. Hey, you California guys had better look out as we have some pretty decent wines made in British Columbia. There, I just added another topic to this incredible thread started by Fred (Rockwood) as a cold weather note.

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you guys gotta remember something, there's a group of people called the ''baby boomers'' that are just beginning to retire. There are millions of them (us ). Point is..... what ever you (we ) find as an ideal place to live, many have already found it and many more will find it.. Resulting in , the nice places are very expensive to live in. That's one reason I moved out of Texas. The town (area ) has become so popular ,things getting expensive, property becomming over priced, too many people, At least here in this part of Kansas , I think I'll be safe for a while ! ......... Canada........How can you grow grapes and make wine in Canada ? Awful short growing season ? But, I didn't know you had tropical forests and deserts either. ???????...........P S ...7 degrees wind chill this morning, high of 29 today !!!!

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Can't let this thread die just yet. Pat, Kelowna is nice but I hear horribly expensive. I guess you are in Calgary and know all about that. Never been to Kelowna but would like to go and check out the wineries in that area. Hey, you California guys had better look out as we have some pretty decent wines made in British Columbia. There, I just added another topic to this incredible thread started by Fred (Rockwood) as a cold weather note.

Yeah, Robert...I have some experience with expensive. Regular people can't live here in Calgary much longer.

Kelowna isn't quite as bad, but the benefit is that the winter out there is quite bearable.

There is a lake in Kelowna, the things they call lakes around here are sloughs and puddles.

And they build million dollar shacks on them!

I love Lethbridge, but I just can't take the wind :eek: for very long. Drumheller is a nice spot, but no lake.

Plan is to move next spring. Going house hunting in March this year.

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Climate

The Okanagan Valley is located in the rainshadow of the coast mountains and receives westerly air masses that have been modified in two ways to give distinct climatic features. First, as moist Pacific air masses are forced up and over the Coast and Cascade Mountains, they are cooled and their moisture falls as rain or snow on the windward side of the mountains. Second, as these air masses are forced down the leeward side of the mountains they are warmed and become more stable. In turn, the dried, warmer air promotes further evaporation from the surrounding landscape.

rainshad.gif

The winter climate in most of the Okanagan is dominated by a succession of Maritime Polar air masses, and the valley's highest precipitation is in December/January. Only occasionally do Continental Polar air masses "break out" over the Rocky Mountains to allow cold air to flow down the valleys and spread out over the Interior Plateau.

In the summer, temperatures rise and precipitation drops as the region comes under the influence of the Hawaiian High. Overall, the temperature range between summer and winter is double that found on the coast of the province, and precipitation is the lowest in souther Canada.

Within the valley, precipitation increases to the north as the valley bends towards the Monasheee Mountains. Precipitation also increases with elevation. Mean daily temperature in the valley decreases from south to north and upslope, and this pattern is reflected in the precipitation records. The frost-free period varies widely throughout the Okanagan Valley and can fluctuate dramatically from year to year. On the average, harvest-damaging autumn frosts occur on the valley floor once every five years. They can be even more common on the benchlands.

http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/frontier/homestead/okan.htm

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A benchmark big town is Vancouver BC, Kelowna is 250 miles east.

About 750 miles west of Calgary. (Warm air over the mountains is also what gives Calgary the weather we have)

North west of Spokane, Washington.

End of todays geography and meteorology lesson :D

Oh, ya...lots of old cars in the Okanagon;)

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Thats alot like ouur weather patterns then. After the storms dump all there moisture getting over the Rockies it takes a LONG time to pick it back up. The Gulf Coast southern winds do that for us. BUT we dont get half the rain Iowa gets and points further east like Illinois and Indiana and

so forth. That sounds good till you NEED rain to make grain,,,very spotty and droughty here and I set in a goofy pocket we watch the rains going North then South, Then west and then East of us(We can always see those big thunderheads to the east dropping needed moisture on our Eastern friends. But rarly do we get what we need to get a god crop. Specialy the last 6-8 years,more drought famine, than feast. pastures dry up to brown toast. Have seen corn actually shrink rather than grow in the heat of the summer.

Now the good news,,,we get much more rain than our western neighbors,,,a 200 miles west and its really spotty rains,half out amounts, but east 50 miles from us double what we get.

The downward winds off the mountains are warm called the 'chinook or is that shinnook'(sp) never did know how to spell that word. We live too far east to get them much,sometimes just an aftereffect. When snow is on the ground its 15 degrees colder. further west where they get chinnooks the snow melts and their winters are much warmer. The other day is was like 15 degrees here and north and west which should have been colder,was about 40 something. They were getting chinnooked with the warm downward compressed winds.

I live just east of the famed "sandhills" and there weather is so much different. I went camping there this last summer. Days were 25 degrees warmer in day time,was actually 117 one day in South Dakota while we were visiting the Presidents faces. Humidity half of what we are used to at home. They were getting dry lightning fire strikes and burning up a few towns out there. Chadron(a good size town like 5000)or so almost lost there college,the fires burned right into town. Valentine did loose part of the north end of town,and many houses when it was tinder dry and tree limbs rubbed power lines and sparked to the dry grass underneath,,,and roared right down the canyon fueled by 50mph winds and jumped right thru a whole subdivision(newer end of town) They had like ten minutes to evacuate their homes!!! They were still fighting this fire a WEEK later!! I drove like 300 miles of this area one day and NEVER lost sight of smoke on the horizon from a prairie wild fire,,,and I do mean WILD,,,real wild.

Anyway I was tenting it and it was soooo hot at night couldnt sleep,,,then by morning it was soooo cold,couldnt find enough blankets,,,then sun came up and baked her hot before 9AM. What I am trying to say is the soils there heat up so quick but loose their heat so fast,,,its unreal and not like 150 miles east of there at all!! Almost like desert soils. The undulating landscape of the sandhills is very unusual considering how they were formed and there present condition and change of elevations real sharp rolling hills,bout takes a goat to conquer. AND a few blow outs!! Its about as unusal as the Dakota badlands,,,of which I have never seen!! I have never been to the Black Hills either till that trip last summer!!

Just a few miles makes all the difference in the world.

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