People in southern Saskatchewan woke up to covered driveways and drifting, swirling snow Tuesday morning.
Drivers are getting a sudden welcome back to winter driving conditions with drifts of soft snow covering icy patches inside Regina.
Regina police were on the scene of one particularly bad crash early in the morning at Winnipeg Street and Victoria Avenue and officers are asking people to avoid the area.
Roads were slick in Saskatoon, with police reporting 35 crashes through the day Monday. None of those collisions resulted in serious injuries. Police urged drivers to slow down Tuesday and give themselves plenty of time to get their destinations.
Highways conditions were poor in many areas Tuesday morning, with slippery sections and poor visibility caused by blowing snow. Road conditions change quickly so check the Highway Hotline for updates.
Environment Canada Meteorologist Dan Fulton said the system bringing the cooler weather is fairly big and stretches from west of Regina all the way into western Manitoba.
“It’s a sudden change in air mass — we’re tapping into the real arctic air now,” he said.
The Regina area saw about five centimetres, or just under two inches, of snow overnight but it should stop around noon.
“We shouldn’t get much more in the capital area but the main problem is the blowing – we had a decent amount overnight and with these strong northerly winds we’re right now blowing around 40 (km/hr) gusting to 60 and giving pretty poor visibility especially out on the open highway, especially east of the city as you kind of move towards the Manitoba border,” Fulton said. “So pretty nasty driving conditions, especially if you’re coming in from the east this morning.”
For Saskatoon, Fulton said measurements showed about 3 or 4 centimetres of snow fell on the city through the day Monday
“It’s really hard to tell, because there was pretty strong northerly winds blowing it around, making things pretty bad there,” he said.
Fulton said we could see more snow and cold temperatures for the next few days.
“There’s a chance of flurries but the main thing is much colder temperatures. We’re looking at highs close to -10 C for the rest of the work week really,” he said.