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Parts of northern Saskatchewan are digging out from a powerful snow storm that left highways closed and residents dealing with an early taste of winter.
In Stony Rapids, heavy snow began falling Friday night after a day of strong winds, leaving the community covered in the white stuff by Saturday morning.
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Sean Singh, who works at the White Water Inn, said the storm came on quickly.
“The whole day was pretty windy, and at night it snowed really heavy,” Singh said.
By Saturday morning, Singh estimated between one and two feet of snow had already fallen, with more still coming down.
“It’s still snowing. It’s like a really heavy snow.”
Singh has spent three years in the community and said that while early snowfall isn’t unusual, this storm has brought more snow than he typically expects in October.
“This is my third year … it’s been like a little too much snow at this time,” he said. “Usually, it started mid-November.”
The Saskatchewan Highway Hotline reported closures in the Stony Rapids and Geikie River areas, with reduced visibility, ice, loose snow, snow-packed roads and drifting snow among the concerns.
Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Rose Carlsen said a powerful Colorado low is driving the storm and began moving across the Prairies on Friday.
“We’ve had a pretty intense Colorado low that’s been moving its way through the Prairies,” Carlsen said.
The system moved through Alberta before reaching Saskatchewan overnight and pushing into northern Manitoba on Saturday.
Carlsen said northwestern Saskatchewan could see another 10 to 20 centimetres of snow Saturday, while parts of the northeast are dealing with strong winds alongside the heavy snowfall.
“Blowing snow up there is usually less of a common occurrence because it is a very heavily treed area,” she said. “But in any open areas that you would have in there, it would be a concern also.”
Although Singh estimated between one and two feet of snow had fallen in Stony Rapids, Environment Canada has not confirmed official snowfall totals.
“We don’t really have a lot of snowfall totals,” Carlsen said, explaining that many northern weather stations don’t have equipment to measure snow depth.
Meanwhile, southern Saskatchewan has been dealing with powerful winds from the same weather system.
Wind gusts reached 95 kilometres per hour in Climax, 91 in North Battleford and 89 in Saskatoon.
Carlsen said the winds should gradually ease throughout Saturday afternoon as the system continues moving east.
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