Sideways snow slams into Manitoba with strong winds from storm system

Strong winds and sideways snow are blowing through southern Manitoba as a storm system centred just across the U.S. border makes its presence felt.

The storm started pushing across the border Tuesday night and made its way further north, into Winnipeg, Brandon and other communities along the Trans-Canada Highway, during the early morning hours.

"The heavy band of snow that's over southern Manitoba right now is giving us a snowfall rate of about five centimetres per hour," CBC Manitoba meteorologist John Sauder said.

"I'm not saying that's going to last for two days. That would be nasty. But we are going to see these heavy bands of snow continue to move through, so just hunker down and be safe and stay off the highways if you can."

The snow has been hitting the higher elevations in western Manitoba much harder. Around Riding Mountain and Turtle Mountain, forecast models have suggested the amounts could reach 80 cm or more by the time the storm is done.

"There's zero visibility. The snow is coming down sideways from the wind," said Deb Bauche, who lives just north of the International Peace Garden on the Canada-U.S. border southwest of Winnipeg, near Turtle Mountain Provincial Park.

"It's hard to tell how much snow we've had. I would say at least a foot, but we've got places where there's two- or three-foot drifts," she said.

"I let my big dog out this morning, he's 130 pounds, and he had nowhere to go. He turned around in a panic and came back. It's wicked."

Snow, at times heavy, is expected to continue throughout the day, along with northeast winds gusting as high as 70 km/h at times. Travel will become increasingly difficult as the day progresses, Environment Canada said in an alert for the region.

The RCMP are ready to close highways when necessary. So far, the only ones shut down are Highway 75 from Morris to the U.S. border and Highway 1 (Trans-Canada) from Elie to Highway 34.

In a news release Tuesday night, RCMP said they were preparing to close all major highways in the province around midnight, or whenever it begins to snow. The storm's slower progress delayed that somewhat so the widespread closures have not yet been required.

Tara Liske with Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure urges people not to travel if it is not necessary — and to check the province's highway conditions website if it is.

"We have all of our crews out clearing roads where they are open, so it's a blanket across the southwestern and southeastern parts of the province," she said.

Transportation staff are working with RCMP to provide updates and, as conditions change, there is the potential for more road closures, Liske said.