Extreme cold follows blizzard and snowfall warnings across Manitoba on Sunday

It was another day of intense winter weather in Manitoba on Sunday, with a number of highways closed for part of the day due to poor conditions.

While people in Winnipeg and communities to the north like Selkirk and Gimli began to dig out after yet another dump of snow Sunday morning, communities to the south and west like Steinbach, Portage la Prairie, Morden-Winkler and Killarneycame under blizzard warnings.

A cold front moving through southern Manitoba overnight brought strong north winds of 50 kilometres per hour, gusting to 70 kilometres per hour, causing widespread blizzard conditions throughout the Red River Valley, according to Environment Canada. About 10 to 15 centimetres of snow fell overnight.

That snow was expected to head east to the Whiteshell, Lac Du Bonnet, Pinawa, Sprauge and the Northwest Angle Provincial Forest. They were all under snowfall warnings, with 10 to 15 centimetres expected.

A number of highways that were closed Sunday morning have since reopened, includingsections of the Trans-Canada Highway, the Perimeter Highwayaround Winnipegand Highway 75 from Winnipeg to the U.S. border. Drivers should check the province's 511 website for the latest road conditions.

While the blizzard warnings ended Sunday afternoon, they were followed by extreme cold warnings covering all of Manitobaexcept for a small corner in the southeast coveringSprague and theNorthwest Angle Provincial Forest.

The extended cold period is expected tolast for much of theweek. Environment Canada says the Arctic air mass will remain for the next several days, with wind chill values of 40 to 45 persisting through the latter part of the week.

Most of northern Manitoba came under extreme cold warnings earlier Sunday, including Churchill, Thompson, Flin Flon, Shamattawa, Island Lake and Norway House.