Heavy snow has stopped falling in Saskatchewan but parts of province remain ‘extremely cold’
The heavy snow has stopped falling in Saskatchewan, but regions in the central and northern parts of the province remain “extremely cold”.
Environment and Climate Change Canada had extreme cold warnings in effect for Saskatoon, Prince Albert, the Battlefords and other parts of western-central Saskatchewan as of 9:30 a.m. CST on Tuesday.
“It’ll be pretty cold today, highs in the mid -20s up to the kind of low minus teens, -18, -16 area,” Stephen Berg, an Environment and Climate Change Meteorologist, said on Tuesday.
“But then tonight there’s going to be a rehash of the round -40 wind chills, so expect extreme cold warnings to be continuing for those same areas.”
It’s even colder in areas of Northern Saskatchewan. Extreme cold warnings are also in effect for places like La Loche, Stony Rapids and Uranium City having wind chills around -45.
The national weather agency states those extremely cold warnings will end on Tuesday morning, but could return on Tuesday night.
Berg said it’s important for people to take precautions in “extremely cold” weather.
“Just stay indoors, avoid exposed skin and just avoid too much exposure if possible,” Berg said. “Otherwise if you have to be outside, bundle up and keep everything covered up well with a good coat, good parka and keep layering up.”
Temperatures expected to warm up significantly
There is an end in sight for the extreme cold weather.
Environment and Climate Change Canada says temperatures will begin rising in central Saskatchewan on Wednesday before returning to above seasonal temperatures on Thursday.
The national weather agency has a high of 7 C in the forecast for Saskatoon on Thursday, while -2 C is the high for Prince Albert and there is a forecasted high of 8 C in Regina.
Berg said the sudden rise of temperatures is a result of a thermal ridge moving into the province from B.C.
“It will push away the cold air toward the east and bring some much more seasonal weather for Thursday onward,” Berg said.
Saskatoon cleaning up from heavy snowfall
The City of Saskatoon said it has received 18 centimetres of snow since Sunday and strong winds and dropping temperatures created challenging road conditions.
The city also said snow fences were insufficient against this storm’s intensity, and wind can undo work that crews have done, necessitating return visits.
City snow crews are continuing to clean up from Saskatoon’s fourth snow event this winter.
Response to snow events follow a priority system according to a City of Saskatoon news release.
Priority one focuses on freeways and major materials like Circle Drive and streets with three plus lanes each way.
Priority two streets are streets with bus lanes or double lanes like Clarence Avenue and Millar Avenue, while priority three streets include collector streets, remaining Business Improvement District streets and school zones.
Saskatonians found themselves with piles of snow to deal with Monday as winter returned in full force.
The city said its crew will continue to focus on grading snow on priority streets and apply deicing materials to improve traction, while also clearing snow from bridge walkways and city-maintained sidewalks.
The city added grading snow on residential and local streets is not in the budget for normal Saskatoon winters.
The extremely cold weather Saskatoon is facing is contributing to icy road conditions and sanders will focus on high speed and high traffic streets, bridge decks and intersections because they have the highest potential for collisions.
The Saskatchewan Highway Hotline map shows winter conditions still exist on many highways in the province, but the travel not recommended and poor visibility advisories have disappeared since Monday.
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