Highways closed as blizzard moves through province

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This article was published 06/02/2016 (2994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Events are cancelled and parts of several major highway are closed as a blizzard sweeps through the Red River Valley today.

Shortly after 10 a.m., the province closed the TransCanada between Headingley and Portage la Prairie as well as Highway 75 to the Canada/U.S. border. Many other highways are ice covered with poor visibility due to blowing and drifting snow.

RCMP said Sunday afternoon they were dealing with at least 14 collisions and many stranded motorists and vehicles stuck in ditches across Southern Manitoba. The RCMP also tweeted that some motorists were choosing to drive around barricades and down closed highways. Officers used the hashtag #ReallyBadIdea.

RCMP also closed Highway 3 between Winnipeg and Carman Sunday afternoon due to poor visibility.

Environment Canada issued the blizzard warning Sunday morning. It stretches from the Interlake to the international border. Several centimetres of snow is expected in the region, but high winds will likely cause the most problems.

Winnipeg will see as much as four centimetres of snow with winds gusting to 80 kilometres per hour, worsening later this morning and peaking this afternoon. Temperatures will fall to -12 C this afternoon with a wind chill of -25.

Snow will end this evening, but gusty winds will continue, meaning blowing snow may still cause visibility problems for motorists in some parts of the city. Overnight, the low will drop to -15 C with a wind chill of -26.

Outside Winnipeg, blowing snow could cause problems and Environment Canada is warning visibility could shrink to zero.

Events across Manitoba were cancelled. A concert in Brandon by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at the Westman Auditorium has been postponed to a later date due to hazardous travel.