Travel in Saskatchewan treacherous with slippery roads, vehicles in ditches

The freezing rain and mixed precipitation that fell overnight has now to turned snow in many parts, as the forecast Alberta Clipper moved across the province on Sunday.

Travel on a number of Saskatchewan highways was treacherous, with many roads becoming icy as the temperatures warmed.

Evan Bray, host of The Evan Bray Show on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME, got stuck in a ditch on Grasswood Road travelling from Saskatoon to Regina, but was rescued by “a good Samaritan.”

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Bray said that the highway conditions got progressively worse after Dundurn.

“Now we’re through Kenaston, and I would say they’re quite bad. It’s one lane that I would say is passable. It’s fairly icy, but there’s a combination of ice and slush,” he said.

“What’s happening is vehicles are travelling at 60 km/h, and they’re in a big, long pack. You’ve got vehicles, semi trucks, vehicles with four-way flashers on.”

Bray also said he had seen numerous vehicles in ditches.

“You’re seeing tow trucks trying their best to get out there and get them but, of course, it’s not even safe for them because visibility isn’t great and the roads are slippery.”

While most drivers are following closely behind each another, others are becoming impatient, he said.

“The odd time you’ll get someone deciding they’re going to switch into the left lane to pass because they get tired of doing 60 km/h. Going both directions you’re seeing long trains of vehicles.”

Locker from The Green Zone with Jamie & Locker was also driving from Saskatoon to Regina on the same highway earlier on Sunday.

He said wind was a big issue, as it was blowing snow over the already snow and ice-covered roads.

“We’re seeing quite a few cars in the ditch just south of Davidson. We saw a passenger bus that was heading north on Highway 11 that slid off the side of the road.

“We stopped at that the Esso at Davidson, and a lot of the trucks were parked, and I think maybe just waiting a bit, because we were behind a semi, and the back end of the semi was sliding pretty continuously.”

650 CKOM’s Justin Blackwell was travelling on Grasswood Road south of Saskatoon on Sunday as well. He said the conditions on the road were not good.

“They were very, very slushy. Normally you can go 80 km/h or 90 km/h on that road but we were going maybe 50 km/h.”

“If you got pulled in by the slush, you were going wherever it took you. So if it was pointing you towards the ditch, that’s where you were going.”

He said that he saw around 10 cars in the ditch between Saskatoon and Grasswood Road.

“It looked like they were just pulled in by the slush.”

Where are the problem highways?

Saskatchewan’s Highway Hotline was listing travel as not recommended in the areas of Moose Jaw (Highways 22 322, 220, and Highway 20 from Junction 322 to Junction 22), Swift Current around Morse, and in North Battleford (Biggar and Highways 376, 4, 29 and 21 from Kerrobert to Junction 374.

In an update around 1 p.m. Battlefords RCMP said motorists could also expect delays on Highway 16 after a semi rolled over between Delmas and North Battleford.

Police said all eastbound lanes were closed and no injuries were reported. The road was fully reopened around 2:30 p.m.

Updates on current road conditions are available on the Highway Hotline website.

Conditions were icy with blowing snow on Highway 11 south of Davidson on Dec. 8, 2024. (CJME staff/submitted)

What is the weather forecast?

Brad Fauci, lead forecaster at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), said in an interview on Sunday morning that the strong low pressure system is tracking across southern Saskatchewan.

He said rain and freezing rain spread through the northern grain belt and Yellowhead Highway areas overnight and rain spread east along Highway 1 as temperatures have been warming up to above freezing in many areas.

“So overnight, a mix of rain and freezing rain has moved through, and now we’re starting to see things change over to snow across central Saskatchewan, and that snow will intensify through the morning and spread eastwards.”

The messy weather system has delivered a number of freezing rain and winter storm alerts, with ECCC saying in a Sunday morning advisory that the wintery mix would deliver snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 cm falling at as much as 2 cm per hours along with winds gusting up to 60 km/h.

Fauci said snow would taper off in the Yellowhead Highway corridor on Sunday night, with more snow possible tomorrow through those regions.

“Most of the accumulations will come today (Sunday) for areas further south, heading down Highway 11 towards Regina,” he said.

“Along the Highway 1 corridor, there will be less snow today. You’ll see fairly warm temperatures, which should keep any precipitation that does move through as rain until late in the day,” Fauci said.

“Some snow will fall overnight and into tomorrow, but for much of the rest of the province outside of that warning area, (you are) probably looking at more like five to 10 centimeters by the time everything is done but even that’s a little uncertain,” he said.

Fauci also said a cold front was moving through the Cypress Hills area on Sunday morning, bringing strong northerly winds along with moderate to heavy snow over the next 12 to 18 hours or so — anywhere from 10 to 25 centimeters over the higher terrain of the Cypress Hills area.

Fauci said that people in the province should enjoy the mild weather today as a “pretty potent Arctic high” would be slumping into the prairies by mid week, and the province could potentially see extreme cold warnings, with wind chills in the minus 35 to minus 40 range by Thursday night.

“It’s going to be a rude awakening to winter in the next couple days,” he said.

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Winter storm and freezing rain warnings were issued across Saskatchewan on Dec. 8, 2024. (Environment and Climate Change Canada/submitted)

What is the City of Saskatoon doing?

In Saskatoon, city streets were slick following six hours of freezing rain overnight, the City of Saskatoon said in a news release on Sunday morning, adding that snow is expected to continue throughout the day.

The city said that crews worked through the night on Circle Drive and other freeways, applying salt and sand where needed, with eight graders, 18 sanders and six plows working on the highest priority streets such as Circle Drive, College Drive, 22nd Street, Idylwyld Drive, and 8th Street.

There are also sidewalk plows sanding bridge walkways and pathways for pedestrians, the city said.

Saskatoon residents were met on Sunday morning with a combination of freezing rain and wet snow.
(Brent Bosker/ 650 CKOM)

The city also said that although snow removal after recent snowfalls had been planned for several priority streets over the next few days, the work may be delayed if the focus shifts to grading snow from high traffic streets after the Sunday storm.

The city added that road conditions could be dangerous despite the sanding and salting efforts and drivers should keep a safe distance from other vehicles, and give road equipment — easily identified by blue and amber flashing lights — space to operate.

Saskatoon’s landfill had some muddy conditions meaning it would not be accepting clean fill on Sunday and only four-wheel-drive vehicles could be used to access the commercial dumping area.

By mid-afternoon on Sunday the city had not provided any update. The city provides an online map showing snow grading progress here.

— with files from Abby Zieverink, 980 CJME

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