Southwest Manitoba receives brunt of Monday storm, gets brief reprieve before more rain

The storms that started rolling across southern Manitoba on Monday have mostly moved on, giving the already flooded region a brief reprieve before more rain forecast to arrive next week.

Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Erik Dykes said the Red River Valley was spared the worst of the storm.

The system began pushing north over the Canada-U.S. border Monday morning.

"It pushed and it basically pivoted over top of the southwest portion of the province and kind of hung out a little bit over the Interlake as well," Dykes said.

The highest amounts fell in areas in the southwest corner of the province, like Forrest, 13 kilometres north of Brandon. 

Forrest received 52.6 millimetres between 6 a.m. Monday and the same time Tuesday, the highest recorded amount in the province over that period.

In second place, Pierson, 120 kilometres southwest of Brandon, got 40.2 millimetres.

In the Interlake, flooded Peguis First Nation received 16.4 millimetres. Rainfall amounts in the Interlake were on the lower end, with the exception of Gimli, which got 22.2 millimetres, Dykes said.

The Red River Valley received between 15 and 25 mm of rainfall.

The storm expected later this week is difficult to predict, Dykes said, but some models show it hitting the southwest portion of the province hardest.

This cycle of storms  could continue for some time, Dykes said. The jet stream, a narrow band of very strong winds, has settled over southern Manitoba. 

"Systems that develop off the Pacific Coast will then take that, follow that jet access and basically manoeuvre themselves right over top of Manitoba. So we're getting shot after shot of these systems."

Tuesday is expected to be dry but windy, CBC meteorologist John Sauder forecast. There is a chance of some showers later in the day on Wednesday, with more storms expected to begin Thursday and lasting until Friday.