Last Saturday, the first official day of fall, hundreds of Manitobans shook their fists at the sky and said, “Not fair! Too soon!”
Many parts of Western Manitoba received a day’s worth of heavy, wet snow causing poor driving conditions and power outages. Some reported up to four inches and even more in Saskatchewan.
While Virden got only some sleet that quickly melted, others were not so lucky. Manitoba Hydro says about 2,600 customers lost power in communities north of the TransCanada Highway between Portage la Prairie and the Sask. border. The outages were mainly caused by tree contacts and fallen lines.
The white stuff accumulated in Hamiota, Oak River, Shoal Lake, McAuley and Kenton among many other towns and rural areas.
A rural family at Oak River reported being out of power for 18 hours over Saturday into early Sunday as trees, heavy with snow bowed low onto electrical lines feeding their property. Most customers had their power back by Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, driving was treacherous on Saturday. One Virden resident returning home from Winnipeg on the TransCanada had to abort her journey and stay overnight in Carberry or risk the ditch.
