Early winter storm brings foot of snow to Moose Jaw

The cleanup in Moose Jaw is continuing after an early-winter storm blanketed the city.

Environment Canada meteorologist Kyle Ziolkowski says Moose Jaw received 30 centimetres of snow over the last 48 hours.

The snow and heavy winds from the storm brought traffic to a standstill, knocked down trees and left thousands without power.

As of Tuesday morning, SaskPower was continuing to work to restore power to a number of rural communities, including Caronport, Tuxford, Marquis, Briercrest, Old Wives, Mortlach and Parkbeg. In Moose Jaw, some sections of the northeast and northwest of the city remain without power.

(SaskPower)

The company said it was hoping to have power restored in parts of Moose Jaw and west of Caron by noon Tuesday, and then have power back up and running to customers northwest of Tuxford by 3 p.m.

SaskTel also was working Tuesday to restore wireless, internet and landlines in rural communities around Moose Jaw.

Moose Jaw was the worst-hit area in the province and Ziolkowski says that’s because a big band of the storm just decided to hang out over the city.

“When you get these systems, you can get banding that occurs,” he said. “Because of how it developed, it just sat in a certain spot for a very long period of time. It was very narrow, so that’s why Moose Jaw received the highest amount (of snow).”

According to Ziolkowski, some of the surrounding areas close to Moose Jaw received upwards of 15 to 30 centimetres of snow.

Regina only recorded five to 10 centimetres of snow, according to the weather office.

While the cleanup continues, there is some good news on the way for people throughout southern Saskatchewan as temperatures are expected to warm up.

“Later in the week, things will warm up and things will clear up,” Ziolkowski explained. “As the week kind of progresses, we’ll get a new air mass that starts to move in and get some warm southwesterly winds that spread out throughout the province.”

Temperatures in Regina and Moose Jaw will remain in single digits until the end of the work week, but by the weekend, those temperatures could go as high as 10 or 12 C.

— With files from Discover Moose Jaw