Colleen Bready’s forecast: A cold start to the week with a warm-up on the way

It is a cold start to the week on Monday in Manitoba, but a big warm-up is on the way before long.

Monday’s cold air mass is thanks to an arctic front scooping around the province. It originates in northern Nunavut, dives down into the Dakotas and Minnesota, then turns north back up through Hudson Bay.

Daytime highs across Manitoba, north and south, will reach the lows -20s in the afternoon.

The sun will shine on most of the province, including Winnipeg.

Light snow earlier in the day in Norway House and Thompson will move into Island Lake and Gillam.

Ahead Monday night, temperatures across the south will drop close to -30 C, if not slightly colder in the southwest.

However, the sky will be mostly clear in the south, which bodes well to see the “Wolf Moon” - the first full moon of 2025.

This will be a special celestial event, as the moon passes in front of Mars.

According to CTV science and technology specialist Dan Riskin, the moon’s passage before the Red Planet will begin at 8:17 p.m. and conclude at 9:06 p.m. central time. Riskin adds this lunar event will not happen again until the 2040s.

On Tuesday, daytime highs will be warmer in southern Manitoba, especially in the southwest.

The big spike in temperatures comes on Wednesday, when Winnipeg is forecast to climb to a balmy mid-January high of 2 C.