Snowfall warning continues for southeastern Saskatchewan

After some mild temperatures, some more traditional Saskatchewan winter weather is on the way.

Environment Canada has snowfall warnings in place for parts of the province, with the southeastern corner expected to get the heaviest snowfall.

“(The forecast is calling for) 10 to 15 centimetres and (they) could even see 20 towards the Manitoba border,” Environment Canada’s Terri Lang said. “We could see some blowing snow develop late into the day. It’s developing deteriorating conditions.”

Lang said Saskatoon and Regina will also see some snow, though not as much as other areas.

But there’s some other weather to keep an eye on.

“We’ve had reports of some freezing rain. It’s mostly south of Highway 16 and then southwest of Highway 11 between Regina and Saskatoon,” Lang said. “We’re also expecting the winds to pick up a little bit, especially over that southwest corner.

“Gusts to 70 (kilometres per hour) are possible. We’re not expecting as much snow through there and it has gotten above freezing. With the temperature falling, it’s going to grease up those roads really fast as they ice up.”

Lang said it’s a hybrid version of an Alberta Clipper.

“It’s coming out of Alberta and it is feeding off the warmer temperatures. It made its way through British Columbia, it made its way through Alberta and now it’s becoming Saskatchewan’s problem,” Lang said.

“It will pull off more to the southeast so that’s why it’s not your typical Alberta Clipper because often we get a really big push of really cold Arctic air behind really strong winds. We usually get lots of blowing snow so that’s why I’m saying it’s not really a typical Alberta Clipper (but) more like a hybrid.”

And the mild temperatures are expected to stick around, at least for a few days.

“There’s a weather system that’s supposed to move through the Northwest Territories so that’s going to create some strong southerly winds and that’s going to bring in some really mild air,” Lang said.

“However, as soon as that system moves through, we’re going to see our big push of Arctic air so we will see our temperatures dropping early next week and we will be back into sort of a deep freeze.

“It won’t be as cold as what we saw over the past couple weeks but it’s going to be a shock after experiencing the milder conditions that we just got after waiting for them for so long.”