Short work week looking mild and dry in Portage

A short work week is upon us as Louis Riel Day is in the books in Portage la Prairie, a short week that looks tame, weather-wise, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

"For the rest of the week, it's going to be relatively benign in terms of weather. Portage is not looking at any significant precipitation moving into the area through this week," says Meteorologist Justin Shelley. "There's a slight chance of some scattered flurries on Thursday, but other than that, it's going to remain relatively dry across southern Manitoba until we get to early next week."

Shelley says this week will be above average, with daytime highs around -5 and overnight lows at -16.

"For the most part, we're going to be well above those values over the course of the week and into the weekend. However, there's one exception to that, and that will be on Thursday night. We have a colder air mass moving through the area. It's just going to be a one-night thing."

The Meteorologist says that while the rest of the week looks warm, sunny and quiet in terms of substantial weather, next week is going to be a different story.

"It looks like we're going to get into a relatively active pattern, and we're tracking a system that will likely affect the region next Monday and into next Tuesday with some snow, some gusty winds."

Shelley says it has been a mild winter, especially this month. To this point, the month overall has been 8 degrees warmer than usual.

"We've seen many days this month already above 0, and we're going to likely add to that count over the course of this week and the weekend. So, it's certainly going to be a fair weather week for the most part."

While the sun hasn't been out and about lately, that trend appears to be curved this week.

"Over the last couple of weeks, we have been periodically trapped in that thick stratus cloud, not seeing as much sunlight, but it looks like we're certainly going to see our fair share of sun throughout this week. Enjoy this week while you can because things are going to change early next week, and then we're likely going to cool off as we head into March."