The good news is winter arrived in southeastern Manitoba this year – in places like Ste. Anne, Piney, Vita, Falcon Lake, West Hawk, Hadashville, Pointe du Bois, Beausejour, Lonesand and La Broquerie – Oct. 4, before it arrived here in the North. The bad news (unless you really can't wait for the beginning of six months of winter) is it arrived in Thompson Oct. 10 – less than a week later.

Wednesday afternoon saw the first wet snow of the season – just 19 days after fall officially arrived Sept. 22 – staying on the ground.

At 4 p.m. Oct. 10 it was 0 C with a wind chill of -3 C in Thompson. The seasonal daytime normal high is 5 C, according to Environment Canada.

Still, compared to the south, we're likely to get off lightly with our start to winter, with light snow predicted to end Wednesday evening. Some parts of southern Manitoba saw power lines blanketed with up to eight centimetres of ice and heavy wet snow, which pulled down hydro lines and snapped poles Oct. 4. More than 6,000 customers lost power and some near Lonesand, in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn, just northeast of Highway 12, were without power until Oct. 9.

While Thompson's first October ground cover snow has been known to last until spring, the forecast high for Monday and Tuesday next week calls for daytime highs of 7 C with a chance of showers both days. So maybe don't put the lawnmower away and get the snow blower out – yet.