Winter storm threat in northwest Ontario and Manitoba

Sunday, March 30, 2014, 2:44 PM -

A major winter storm in northwestern Ontario on Monday is looking likely, and it looks like it will swing over into Manitoba as well.

Winter storm watches stretched from northern Ontario well into Manitoba, when Environment Canada upgraded several of them to winter storm warnings late Sunday morning.

A Colorado low, boasting very strong winds, is approaching the region, bringing snow and ice pellets to the Lake Superior shores, with potentially very high amounts of snow for areas further north.

The ice pellets will begin Sunday night, and the system will intensify beginning Monday evening. It could be Wednesday morning before it moves out of the region entirely.

TUNE IN: We'll be closely following this system as it approaches the region. Watch The Weather Network on TV for updates.

Winnipeg was included in the winter storm watch for several hours, although it was dropped out of it late Sunday morning, but snowfall and blizzard warnings are in effect in Manitoba's southwest.

Blizzard warnings are typically issued when there is a chance of sustained high winds as well as significant snow, so expect driving conditions to worsen as the system passes through.

However, areas with neither watches nor warnings are still likely to receive some kind of snowfall, and the strong winds will still make for poor visibility.

"Snowfall amounts will be very dependent upon the track of the Colorado low," Weather Network Meteorologist Monica Vaswani said Sunday. "A slight shift in the track could mean higher amounts for some, but lesser amounts for others. The boundary between significant snowfall and lesser amounts is quite thin."