Tranquility after a spring snowstorm in southern Manitoba has been established in parts of the province, but not everyone has returned to normal.
In Onanole, a small community about 220 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg near Riding Mountain National Park, some residents are still digging – waiting for snowplows to clear the road so they can leave their homes.
This includes Sheldon Willie, who said he was surprised by the sudden return of winter, but only slightly.
“We had a bit of a taste of weird weather here before,” he said, referring the snowstorm on the weekend of Thanksgiving in 2019 this took power and brought much of the province to a standstill.
Dean Gunnarsson, a professional escape artist who lives in the area, said even he would have difficulty finding a way out of the thick layer of snow that covered the roads and buried his truck.
“It will be, I don’t know, a few days before he leaves,” he said, looking back at the pile of snow where his vehicle had once been seen.
It’s a challenge, but it’s being Canadian.
Gunnarson’s truck is almost invisible as it is covered in snow. (Submitted by Dean Gunnarsson)
Environment Canada says unofficial total amount of snowfall show a huge range throughout the province. In the woods northwest of Winnipeg, there is only about 13 inches of snow, while the city of Winnipeg has somewhere between 25 and 35.
Onanole was hit by far the hardest, covering approximately 82 centimeters of this part of the province.
But Willie said he wasn’t too worried and expected to be out again in a day or two.
“Rural Manitoba is pretty good at digging out these snowstorms,” he said.
Sheldon Willie, seen here at Zoom on April 15 with his wife Eugenia Willie, said he was a little surprised by the snow that hit his home in Onanole, Manchester, this week. (Zoom)
Mail delivery is still paused
They are not the only ones who will need a few more days to return to normal.
Canada Post is still suspending deliveries in southern Manitoba until it is safe, spokesman Phil Lego said in an email Friday.
This means that mail delivery is not expected to return until Tuesday thereafter a signal for the service was issued on Wednesdayas emergency planning is happening now to ensure deliveries are up to date as soon as possible next week, Lego said.
Canadian community community mailboxes were flooded with ice and snow on the outskirts of Brandon, Manchester, this week. (Riley Laichuk / CBC)
“We encourage customers to clear snow and ice from their paths, stairs and alleys to ensure safe access to the front door for both their visitors and their postal carriers when the service resumes,” he said, adding a pause in the service includes Brandon and Winnipeg.
The ban on parking in Winnipeg has been lifted
Although Winnipeg received much less snow than many rural areas, people in the capital were still disappointed to be shoveling so much snow again.
Gail and Douglas McClelland were working hard to clear their front sidewalk on Friday, hoping to fix it by the time their relatives arrive for Saturday’s Easter party.
Gail and Douglas McClelland were trying to clear their front sidewalk in Winnipeg on the Friday before Easter, which they will host with relatives on Saturday. (Gilbert Rowan / Radio Canada)
“This snow is ridiculous,” Gail said, pausing briefly as he rested his hand on his blue shovel. “We were hoping for better than that.”
The city banned snow parking at midnight on Thursday as plows came out to clear roads. By Friday morning, the ban had been lifted, the city said in an email.
More snow “barely missed” Winnipeg: meteorologist
Early storm forecasts suggested a range of 30 to 50 inches of snow in Manitoba, but closer to 80 in the higher altitudes of Riding Mountain and Turtle Mountain.
Several blizzard warnings, which were originally in effect in western Manitoba for most of the week, were later removed from Environment Canada and replaced with winter storm warnings.
Several snowfall warnings remained later on Thursday, but by Friday there were no more weather signals in the province.
Dave Carlsen, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, said he thought the weather agency’s signals – which said Monday the storm had the potential to be “Manitoba’s worst blizzard in decades” – were justified on the basis of information provided by had at that time.
“All we knew was that there was going to be a huge snowfall over a fairly large area. And that’s the best we can do on this time scale,” Carlsen said.
“Sometimes you don’t get it right. But I think in this situation, we actually did a pretty good job of what our forecast was and even the communication of what the forecast would do.”
Southern Manitoba eventually saw significant snowfall, with huge variations even among nearby communities. Compared to 25 to 35 centimeters in Winnipeg, the town of Selkirk – about 35 kilometers northeast – was affected by about 45.
“Meteorologically, it’s right next door,” he said. “He barely missed us.”
These warnings also potentially diverted more people from roads and highways during the storm. The Manitoba RCMP said they had received minimal calls related to traffic during the storm.
This includes an extremely small number of reports of collisions – none of which are serious – and a very small number of blocked drivers, said a spokesman for Mountie Cpl. Julie Courchain said in an email Friday.
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