Central and southern Saskatchewan hit with snowfall and weather alerts

A cold front coming in from the west is set to wallop Saskatchewan with a combination of rain and snow.

Environment Canada issued special weather statements across central and southern Saskatchewan for the first shot of colder temperatures on Monday morning. Snowfall warnings are creeping across the Alberta border and into the central area of Saskatchewan.

Brad Vrolijk, a lead forecaster with Environment Canada, said this is the first hint of the winter season.

“We have a pretty big pattern change this week for southern Saskatchewan after what’s been really a lovely fall the last several weeks,” he said early Monday morning.

A cold air mass coming in through the north is responsible for the snowfall. It’s coming from the west into central and southern Saskatchewan. For a 12- to 18-hour period, it will produce a mix of rain and snow.

“Saskatoon will be on the northern edge of the snowfall as it tracks along the province,” said Vrolijk. “The city of Saskatoon will probably only see a couple centimetres — maybe if it’s on the heavier side, maybe four or five centimetres.”

Snowfall totals will increase greatly going south, according to Vrolijk.

The central region in areas of Leader, Outlook and Davidson will be hit the hardest by the snowfall, seeing between 10 to 15 centimetres.

In the Regina area, between four and eight cm of snow are expected.

“Areas along the Trans-Canada Highway corridor almost all the way back to the Alberta border will see accumulating snow, but it will also be mixed with rain, and temperatures will be close to freezing,” said Vrolijk.

South of the Trans-Canada Highway, warmer temperatures could turn to rain.

“It’s been so warm lately that there will probably be quite a bit of melting as it falls,” Vrolijk said. “It may not stick for those areas, which will probably be nice for Halloween.”

Southeast Saskatchewan should see less snow as the storm is expected to taper off the further east it travels to the Manitoba border.

The snow may disappear within a few days, but Vrolijk said the downturn of winter temperatures has begun. Vrolijk says overnight lows could waver around the -5 to -10 C mark. Daytime temperatures could be close to freezing, or in the positive single digits.

Vrolijk recommends that people check weather alerts before travelling over the next couple of days.

As of 10 a.m., the Highway Hotline showed winter driving conditions existed in the central-east area of Saskatchewan, saying roads were wet and subject to freezing.

The City of Regina has spent the past few weeks preparing for the first snowfall with new strategies to battle winter weather.