While a snowstorm has already closed highways in parts of the province, Environment Canada says to get ready for more.

Shannon Moodie, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says the few inches of snow the far west of the province has seen is only the beginning.

"That wasn't even the worst of it," she says. "They had a bit of a shot of snow last night. We're in a bit of a very unsettled pattern right now and it's just one shot of precipitation after another."

Moodie says that the area along the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border will continue to see more snow today.

Five to 15 centimetres is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow but she says given the area's topography there is a possibility for over 20 centimetres in some places.

"It is not an April Fool's joke," Alysa Pederson from Environmental Canada says.

Brandon and Dauphin are expected to see snow during the day. Overnight, a separate system will spread snow over the Red River Valley and rising temperatures in the South-East could result in rain or freezing rain.

Pederson says the early-falling snow is expected to melt but snow arriving overnight will stay due to cooler temperatures. Pederson adds that everyone can "expect to shovel" by the end of the day tomorrow.

Special weather statement remains for Winnipeg

All of southern Manitoba outside of the warning area is under a special weather statement.

Moodie says there is still some uncertainty right now with the system. What is a given right now is that the rest of southern Manitoba will see some form of precipitation Wednesday afternoon, and into Thursday.

"It's starting to look a little bit clearer that it will start out as rain and then on Thursday, really towards the early morning hours, we'll see that rain transition to snow.

Around 10 centimetres of snow is expected, however, Moodie says where the snow begins is still uncertain. "It's looking more and more like eastern Manitoba will see snow as well, but some models are still saying that they will stay in rain." The picture will get clearer as the system continues to develop and Moodie expects the statement to transition to warnings.

Cooler temps also coming

Moodie says that temperatures will also be dipping below the mild temperatures Manitoba had been enjoying. "Unfortunately as the system moves through there's a bit of a shot of cold air."

The good news is she doesn't expect the cooler temperatures to last very long. "I mean, it is the spring, it's April, so it shouldn't be too long. We're just going to have to deal with a bit of a messy scenario for the rest of the week and weekend, and then hopefully next week we can get a restart."