Southern Manitoba is waking up to the sound of sump pumps running every few seconds, and a landscape marked by waterfilled ditches and ponding on recently seeded fields after a substantial rainfall event hammered the region throughout Friday.

"This would be the most significant, widespread rainfall event the Pembina and Red River Valleys has seen since late April 2022 when the region received multiple rounds of heavy rain on top of record setting snowfall which ultimately led to overland flooding throughout the region," explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "This moisture filled low pressure system moved quite slowly northward out of the Dakotas and into our area, with rainfall beginning in the early morning hours of Friday, and the bulk of the precipitation falling by late Friday evening. The fact the heavier rain bands took relatively long to progress northward led to some places seeing substantially more precipitation than others. Based on the reports and readings from Saturday morning, it appears the Morden, Winkler Plum Coulee and R.M of Stanley region saw the absolute peak of that combination of factors."

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Rain wasn't the only precipitation received yesterday, with Snowfall Warnings issued for parts of Westman Friday afternoon and evening, with some of those areas seeing 5 to 10cms of snow.

"The combination of the higher elevation, and the fact those areas were on the cold side of the low where relatively cooler air was being pulled into the system, led to that unwelcome visitor," noted Sumner. "A good amount of that snow melted on contact, but there was a fair amount of accumulation in some places, including the Boissevain, Killarney and Brandon areas. With temperatures warming today, and sunshine expected to return in Westman, that snow won't last long."

snowfall in a backyardThis photo shows the 5 to 10cms of snow the Killarney region received Friday. Submitted by Betty Sawatzky.

The following totals are for May 24th through 5 a.m. Saturday, May 25th and are courtesy PembinaValleyOnline Rainwatchers, Environment Canada and the Manitoba Ag Weather Network:

Winkler (in city) - 107.5mm  (4.3 inches)
Morden - 105mm (4.2 inches)
Winkler (south end of city) - 97mm
Altona (northwest corner) - 96.8mm (3.8 inches)
Reinland - 91mm (3.64 inches)
Morden (southwest corner) - 90mm (3.6 inches)
Winkler (south of city) - 86.4mm (3.45 inches)
Morden (AAFC station) - 82.8mm (3.3 inches)
Jordan - 77.3mm (3 inches)
Plum Coulee - 74.42mm
Carman - 68.0mm (2.7 inches)
Manitou - 66.6mm
Kane - 65.2mm
Rosenfeld - 62.5mm (2.5 inches)
Pilot Mound - 60.2mm (2.4 inches)
Elm Creek - 57.7mm
Gretna - 56.5mm
Clearwater - 55.1mm
Altona - 53.7mm
Morris - 50.4mm ( 2 inches)
Dominion City - 45.1mm
Emerson - 42.6mm
Brandon (airport) - 32.5mm rain; 1.8cm snow
Winnipeg (The Forks) - 28.0mm
Steinbach - 27.3mm
Melita - 24.1mm (almost 1 inch)
25mm = 1 inch

As of Saturday morning, the system was centred over the Manitoba/Ontario border, and continues to move slowly northward. As it does, lingering showers and drizzle are expected through the morning hours, but additional accumulation should be minimal.

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"The expectation is we could see some peeks of sunshine Saturday evening, before the remaining cloud cover moves out the area," Sumner said. "As the sky clears, and a cooler airmass remains in place over the region, a risk of frost will be there for Saturday night into Sunday morning. We'll see a brief return of surface high pressure Sunday, which will help bring back sunshine to the region, and also help warm things up into the 15 to 17 degree range, but another disturbance moving in from the west Sunday evening into Monday may bring another round of showers and a few further millimeters of rain."

Looking into the final week of May, he added a warming trend is showing up in the forecast models as an area of high pressure establishes itself over the region around Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Right now, it's looking like mainly sunny conditions for both those days, and temperatures slowly rebounding back to seasonal," said Sumner.

Averages for this point in the month are 23 degrees for daytime highs and 8 degrees for overnight lows.

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