Environment Canada warns of freezing rain, snow in Sask. this weekend

This might not be the best weekend for a road trip.

According to Environment Canada, a developing weather system has the potential to hammer much of the province with freezing rain and snow.

According to the weather service, a low-pressure system expected to develop over Alberta on Saturday could bring “a large area of freezing rain to portions of central and southeast Saskatchewan on Sunday.”

Environment Canada said freezing rain is expected to develop overnight on Saturday and early Sunday morning, and will move eastward.

Environment Canada’s special weather statements blanketed much of Saskatchewan on Friday afternoon. (Environment Canada)

Those in the northern parts of the province won’t be avoiding the weather system entirely, Environment Canada said.

“North of the freezing rain, snow that has the potential to be heavy will spread through central Saskatchewan,” the weather service noted.

While Environment Canada issued special weather statements Friday afternoon to warn the province of the low-pressure system, there’s still quite a bit of uncertainty about how it will look when it arrives.

“There is significant uncertainty with this system due to there being quite a range in weather model solutions regarding timing, temperature, and location,” Environment Canada noted.

“Variation in temperature even by a single degree will have the potential to greatly change the type of precipitation that will fall.”

The weather statements issued Friday included both Saskatoon and Regina.

On Oct. 24, after much of the province received its first significant snowfall of the season, there were a number of crashes on roads and highways around Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan RCMP said officers responded to about 36 weather-related traffic issues before 11 a.m. that day, including a crash involving two semis near Fort Qu’Appelle.

In a three-hour period that same day, police in Saskatoon responded to 19 separate collisions.

The latest information on Environment Canada’s alerts can be found on the weather service’s website.