The sun has made an appearance, and the shovels have been put to work as the city of Winnipeg, and virtually all of southern Manitoba, begins to dig out from the big Christmas blizzard.

Almost all highways are now open again in southern Manitoba, the most recent being the 75 from Winnipeg to the USA border. The last remaining closed highway in the southern part of the province is most of highway 18, from highway 2 to the USA border. While highways are open, caution is still advised. Many highways have partly or fully covered conditions, and visibility is reduced due to blowing snow in many areas. For the latest road conditions check here.

The city has sent out a small army of snow clearing equipment this morning and is once again asking that people limit travel within city limits to essential trips only. 400 pieces of equipment are out on the roads trying desperately to clear the 23cm of snow that fell in the city. "A residential plow is planned and a start time will be announced officially in the coming days. The City is focusing on completing P1 (regional) and P2 (collector/bus routes) to ensure essential services are available," the city noted in a statement released just before 10:00 a.m. on December 27.

A declared snow route parking ban remains in effect. That means that there is no parking on snow routes beginning at midnight and running until 7:00 a.m. Back lanes have begun to be cleared this morning, and will continue for the next four days.

In fact, the city says it has run out of room to store the snow on many boulevards. "In these cases we have temporarily plowed the snow over to the curb lane and will trailer this snow away primarily during the night. The City is requesting the public’s assistance in these areas by avoiding parking or stopping in the traffic lanes adjacent to these locations to help maintain traffic flow and safety."

Check out these pictures of Winnipeg and southern Manitoba digging out from the storm.