WINNIPEG -- While it is now spring and the weather has been warming up throughout the province, that doesn't mean winter weather is disappearing just yet.
Most of central Manitoba is under either a winter storm or snowfall warning.
The areas range from Lynn Lake — Leaf Rapids — Pukatawagan in the west, Shamattawa in the east and Grand Rapids — Waterhen in the south.
Other parts of the province, including Brandon, Melita, Minnedosa, Morden and Virden, are under wind warnings.
According to Environment Canada, a cold front is approaching the Manitoba-Saskatchewan boundary on Monday afternoon and northwest winds of 90 km/h will develop in its wake. The weather agency said temperatures will quickly drop in these areas and rain will change to snow.
Jason Knight, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said some unpleasant weather is coming over the next few days.
"In central areas, we already have the front edge of the system starting to come in now. Looking at a chance of freezing rain tonight and Monday and heavy snow developing later tonight. Pockets of up to 25 cm," said Knight.
He added that there could also be some blowing snow and high winds during the storm.
The weather system is expected to transition into Ontario by Tuesday.
Knight said Winnipeg will be dodging most of what is hitting central Manitoba Sunday night but the southern part of the province is under a special weather statement.
The statement says southern Manitoba should see some active spring weather Monday and Tuesday.
Knight expects it to be rather warm to start the day with Winnipeg projected to have a high of 17 degrees but that should change as the day progresses.
"Temperatures really start dropping in the afternoon and evening and we'll see a chance of showers for the day turning to just a centimetre of snow in the evening," he said.
Knight said there will also be some fairly strong winds and the night will see a low of minus 10.
Again, the conditions are expected to improve Tuesday as the system moves to Ontario.
Manitobans may have been getting used to the warmer weather but Knight said this is a very common occurrence in March.
"We've still got the cold air entrenched in place and we've got that warm air struggling to come up from the south, so we get these battles of warm and cold air," he said. "March is a very wild month."
Now, there is some good news for people once this weather system moves out of the province: Knight said we could be seeing the temperatures back up into the high teens by the time the weekend rolls around.
