‘Yo-yo weather’: Winnipeg residents brace for potential significant snowfall

A potential snowstorm could bring blizzard conditions to parts of Manitoba in the coming days. Colleen Bready and Joseph Bernacki report.

Winnipeg residents are gearing up ahead of an anticipated major snowfall starting Wednesday morning.

“I thought I was going to wash my truck and have a nice relaxing Wednesday,” said Joe Fedora, a customer at Pollock’s Hardware on Tuesday afternoon.

Fedora said he changed his plans after Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) Tuesday issued winter storm watches, noting blizzard conditions may be coming. He said he wants the main routes to be plowed, especially Main Street, where a water main broke last week.

“I’m hoping they get Main Street a little bit straightened out, a little bit better because it’s down to one lane each way and with a blizzard, it’s not going to be very good going for people that have to work,” Fedora said.

Fedora stopped into Pollack’s Hardware on Tuesday to find some lightbulbs.

General manager Kaitlyn Peters said she’s seen an uptick in customers since the storm warning was announced.

“It took a while for everything to freeze and so in classic Winnipeg fashion, the blizzard’s coming of out nowhere it seems,” Peters said.

“It tends to be as soon as a blizzard comes, there’s either the panic shoppers right before and then it kind of tapers off because people don’t want to go out in the storm.”

On Tuesday afternoon, ECCC replaced a flash freeze warning with a winter storm watch highlighting the potential for hazardous winter conditions.

Michael Cantor, manager of street maintenance for the City of Winnipeg, said the city has been ready for a month and a half now for significant snow. He said it’s a wait and see situation.

“We’ll see what type of snow we’re going to get Wednesday and overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, and I would expect us to start plowing overnight and Thursday morning,” Cantor said.

He said many streets have already been salted, but sanding will begin Tuesday evening.

Earlier in the day, temperatures rose to 5 C. Now with temperatures dropping well below zero, Nicholas Burns said he believes climate change is creating chaos with Winnipeg weather.

“They call it whiplash weather or weather extremes,” Burns said. “Yo-yo weather and this is what we’ve got to get used to now.”