More snow Thursday, but weekend will bring milder weather: Environment Canada

More snow is expected across much of Saskatchewan on Thursday as a late-season snowstorm makes its way out of the province.

A snowfall warning remained in effect on Thursday morning for the northeastern parts of the province, including Melfort, Tisdale and Nipawin. But according to Brad Vrolijk, lead forecaster with Environment and Climate Change Canada, almost all of Saskatchewan will see some snow on Thursday.

“For most of southern Saskatchewan – for Regina, for Saskatoon (and) almost all the way west to the Alberta border today – we’re going to see periods of light snow,” explained Vrolijk.

The sticky April snow turned parts of Saskatoon into a winter wonderland on Wednesday. (Taylor MacPherson/650 CKOM)

“But with temperatures climbing up just below zero today we aren’t expecting much accumulation from the snow. So although you’ll see lots of flakes, we’re not expecting too much to pile up and we’ll see most of the snow taper off tonight. Some might linger in the southeast into tomorrow and then we’ll see improving conditions in the weekend.”

Regina can expect a couple of centimetres of snow on Thursday, Vrolijk said, but it likely won’t accumulate on the ground. Saskatoon can expect two to four centimetres to fall Thursday and even more overnight, but Vrolijk said it’ll all be gone by the weekend.

“The snow today is largely just from kind of the lingering instability with a slow-moving, low-pressure system crossing the prairies,” Vrolijk said. “That low is actually over southern Manitoba this morning and will continue to track east out of the prairies today. And in behind it we just have a very broad area of cloud and flurries, light snow and just generally unpleasant wintery April weather.”

As the low-pressure system leaves the region, Vrolijk said a high-pressure system will move down from the Northwest Territories to replace it, bringing cool but seasonal weather along with it.

“We’ll see daytime highs back up to about zero and close to seasonal values, but more importantly it’ll bring clearing skies and sunshine,” Vrolijk said. “And as we head further and further into April here, that sun gets stronger and stronger, so we should see quite pleasant weather by the end of the weekend.”

Asked if this week’s storm will be Saskatchewan’s last snowfall of the season, Vrolijk said he never rules out snow on the prairies until at least the May Long Weekend.

The snowfall has created tricky driving conditions on roads and highways around the province.

The RCMP reported that between midnight on Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday, the communications centre had received 68 calls about crashes and eight reports about weather-related traffic hazards.

“Road conditions continue to be poor in some areas today,” the Mounties said in a release. “In particular, Saskatoon RCMP advises that high winds are creating poor visibility and drifting on Highway 11 and other roads around Saskatoon.”

The Highway Hotline was recommending against travel on Thursday morning on some routes in the area of Nipawin and Carrot River. The latest information on road conditions can be found on the Highway Hotline’s website.