UPDATE: Wednesday, Apr 19, 2023, 8:00 AM
The West Central Online weather radar is showing that yesterday's wet weather will continue sweeping across the area today.
The spring snowstorm beginning yesterday provided some poor driving conditions across a large portion of the province, and with temperatures hovering around 0 today, those hazardous road conditions could persist.
Different reports are noting icy and slippery sections around the region since around midnight. Light blowing snow should continue, and with today's high of 0, people will need to be careful with the possibility of equally as slippery roads throughout the rest of the day.
Follow along yourself with the Highway Hotline as they have winter driving conditions labelled for a good portion of the area including Highway #7 from Saskatoon all the way to Fiske. There is a good chance those conditions worsen around the Kindersley area by lunchtime.
ORIGINAL: Tuesday, Apr 18, 2023, 12:00 PM
Written with files from Kash Knight
The recent warmup has melted lots of snow around the area, but it's making its way back tonight.
A low-pressure system from the Colorado area is moving upwards, bringing rain today and dropping temperatures to turn any precipitation to snow overnight.
Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, Kyle Fougere, said that the west central and south west regions are expected to be on the edge of the system.
"It's going to move up into the southeastern part of Saskatchewan, but it is such a potent system, so it's got a really wide area of rain and snow that's going to spread into most of southern Saskatchewan," he explained. "So, although the low itself will move across the southeast, a large portion of Saskatchewan is going to be affected by this system."
He added that the worst of the spring storm could hit tomorrow, possibly affecting travel conditions throughout the day.
Folks are advised to delay any plans to head out on the highways, especially for the morning, if possible. Anyone that has to be out on the roads should carry an emergency kit in their vehicle and keep updated on the weather and highway conditions.
Other than the expected precipitation, Fougere said it's hard to be definitive on what this storm will be like when it arrives.
"These spring storms, they're always a little difficult because temperatures are often right around zero, and that is going to be the case with this system," he said. "It's looking like the as the system moves into southern Saskatchewan, we're going to have periods of rain but at some point, it's going to transition over to snow. By the time Wednesday morning comes around, we're expecting a significant snowstorm across most of southern Saskatchewan.
"Depending on when the rain transitions over to snow and how wet that snow is when it first starts, has a huge impact on how much will accumulate. Also, Swift current is going to be pretty close to the edge of the system. So although we are expecting some rain [today] and then snow Wednesday into Thursday, if that system moves a little bit farther west it could be significantly more amounts. So that's why these systems are so difficult to forecast; we have the precipitation change, and just a small change in the track can really change the impacts for different areas."
The forecast currently estimates a snowfall of up to 10 centimetres by tomorrow morning.
Thu, Apr 25, 9:30 AM
