Environment Canada says snow could fall in some areas of Sask. in May

While the weather feels more like spring in parts of Saskatchewan, that doesn’t mean the province is out of the woods yet when it comes to snow.

Environment Canada’s Terri Lang told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Monday that snow in May is rare but not impossible.

“It can happen. It’s not very common, we don’t have it happen every year, but this year it looks like it might. We will put that on the backburner right now and think about the nice weather that we are going to have this week,” Lang said.

“We are looking at some really nice temperatures this week. People should get out and enjoy those while they are here.”

Temperatures in some areas of the province this week could get into the mid- to high 20s.

But while some areas of the province could see some record highs early this May, other areas won’t be so lucky. Parts of northern Saskatchewan were put under a snowfall warning on Monday morning.

“The month of May is looking like the temperatures will be below average,” Lang said. “Unfortunately, (that’s) kind of continuing that cool spring we already had, April being really cold and dry for some parts but really wet for other parts.

“If we get the cold air, that’s why there’s the possibility of lingering snow. It does look like it’s going to be on the dry side which is good news for the southeast but bad news for the southwest.”

She said a La Niña is influencing the cooler weather Saskatchewan has been seeing.

“It really affects the jet stream and the jet stream is that mediator between the cold air to the north and the warm air to the south and there’s always that epic battle when that jet stream is flopping around,” Lang said.

“The conditions are supposed to go to more neutral conditions (in June) out in the ocean and that just means it gets harder to forecast the weather.”