Snowfall warning in effect for east-central Saskatchewan, freezing rain warning ended

Central and eastern parts of Saskatchewan could be in for some messy weather on Wednesday.

A snowfall warning from Environment Canada covered a large area on Wednesday morning, stretching from just east of Saskatoon to the Manitoba border, including Humboldt, Melfort, Nipawin, Tisdale, Hudson Bay, Canora and Wynyard, as well as the surrounding areas.

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The weather service said as much as 20 centimetres of snow could fall in some areas covered by the warning.

“A developing low pressure system will bring accumulating snowfall to the region starting Wednesday morning and continuing through Wednesday evening and overnight,” Environment Canada said in a statement.

“The exact location of heaviest snow remains uncertain, but significant accumulations are likely in some areas.”

The snow is expected to make travel tricky as well.

“Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions,” Environment Canada warned.

Meanwhile, an area covering Regina and stretching east to Moosomin was under a freezing rain warning early on Wednesday morning, but that warning ended shortly after 10 a.m.

“The freezing rain threat will diminish by late morning,” Environment Canada said.

Meteorologist Rose Carlsen said the freezing rain started west of Moose Jaw on Wednesday morning, moving east along the Trans-Canada Highway.

“We’re expecting that to move out of the area and change into snow by mid-morning,” she said.

“We do expect the conditions to be slippery. Hopefully we will not be getting too bad, as it is moving fairly quickly along the highway. Hoping it won’t be too much accumulating ice.”

Carlsen said Regina can expect a mix of weather on Wednesday.

“Regina is pretty much on the transition line from snow to freezing rain. It’s possible the northern half of Regina won’t see any freezing rain at all, but portions right along the southern half will,” she explained.

Meanwhile, Carlsen said roughly two to four centimetres of snow is expected to fall in Saskatoon by Wednesday afternoon.

The meteorologist advised drivers to use extra caution on the roads and highways on Wednesday.

“We’re expecting the roads to be a little bit harder to travel on than usual,” said Carlsen.

Early spring snowstorm not unusual, meteorologist says

In an interview on Tuesday, meteorologist Danielle Desjardins said it’s not uncommon for Saskatchewan to see a snowstorm hit early in the spring, but that doesn’t mean anyone is happy about it.

“It’s not really a surprising situation, but of course when you get this late into March, people are pretty anxious to get over winter and get on with the spring, so it can be frustrating,” she said.

But while warmer weather should soon be arriving in the province, Desjardins said this might not be the the last dump of snow Saskatchewan sees before spring begins in earnest.

“Can’t say ‘no more snow’ at this point. It’s still pretty early, but for the next week or so we’re getting back into those warm temperatures, so it will definitely feel spring like,” she said.

The latest updates on the weather alerts can be found on Environment Canada’s website, and current road conditions can be accessed via the Saskatchewan Highway Hotline.

–with files from 980 CJME’s Abby Zieverink