‘A mixed bag’: patchy freezing rain system hits Sask.

A weather system that blew into Saskatchewan from the west brought freezing rain and slippery conditions Friday morning through much of the province.

Regina was under a freezing rain warning from Environment Canada as of 6 a.m.; the weather agency lifted it for the city by 10:15 a.m.

Still meteorologist Brad Vrojlik urged drivers heading out on the highways, especially Highway 16, to use caution and drive carefully.

“In the south you shouldn’t see too much rain, between half a millimetre and a millimetre,” he said, adding it’s still enough to make roads and sidewalks slick and icy.

“(It) developed overnight over western Saskatchewan. It popped up just north of the Yellowhead Highway, north of North Battleford. Then it slid eastward, just past north of Saskatoon,” Vrojlik said.

While no freezing rain warning was in effect for Saskatoon, people were reporting slick conditions on streets and sidewalks around the city.

The provincial Highway Hotline lifted a number of warnings against travel on highways in and out of Saskatoon by 7 a.m., but people were still urged to drive carefully and check conditions before heading out.

Vrojlik  said the weather system crossed east of Humboldt by about 5:30 a.m. Friday; it was expected to make its way along the east and southeast corridor of the province through the rest of the morning.

On the 980 CJME text line, texters said there was pouring rain in Craven, and they described west of Last Mountain Lake as a skating rink.

Varying temperatures across the province also influenced which areas saw ice on the roads, and which didn’t.

“It’s kind of a temperature mixed bag. It depends on if you’re higher up or lower down (in the province),” Vrojlik said.

The mix of rain and freezing rain was expected to taper off by 7 or 8 a.m., he said.

Regina is forecast to hit 2 C by by 11 a.m. with some sun expected to show through the clouds by noon.

Saskatoon was expected to reach a daytime high of 1 C, with periods of light snow or rain

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray