South central Manitoba is on track to be one of the five snowiest winters on record.

That, is according to Scott Kehler with Weatherlogics. Kehler says we have received about 150 centimetres of snow, making it the third or fourth snowiest at this point of the season. But, it is well back of the highest total ever recorded by this date. Back in the winter of 1955-56, south central Manitoba had more than 200 centimetres of snow by mid-February.

Even the winter of 1996-97 was not as snowy to this point. That was the year of the Flood of the Century. However, Kehler is quick to point out that the flooding that spring was heavily influenced by an early spring storm. According to Kehler, that one storm in April produced nearly 60 per cent of all the moisture we have on the ground right now.

"If we don't see a big storm like that this spring, we'll be in much better shape than '97, even though up to this point the snow pack is similar," Kehler points out.

Putting this winter's precipitation into perspective, Kehler says our 150 centimetres of snow is about the equivalent to 100 millimetres of rain in summer. Or, about what this part of the province receives in a single month.

"So it's not as though it's a huge deluge of moisture on the ground," he says. "And as it melts some of that will runoff too, not all of it will make its way into the soil."

Kehler notes while all of the snow is certainly helpful, it will not cure the drought, stressing the need for more moisture throughout the growing season. Further to that, he says the frost runs very deep this winter, meaning it will take longer for the frost to come out of the ground, thus, making it tougher for moisture to find its way into the soil once the spring thaw begins.

Looking ahead to March and April, Kehler says these are extremely variable months in southern Manitoba. He says March can still produce winter weather, yet last year it marked the beginning of spring. In a winter like this, when the snowpack is so deep, Kehler says it will be difficult to have a mild March that gets rid of all of our snow. For that reason he anticipates March will remain "wintery" and that we will not suddenly switch to spring in the next couple of weeks.