People in Saskatoon spent Wednesday navigating the year’s first dose of winter weather.
Throughout the city, those who work outdoors found themselves having to bundle up,.including gas station attendant
“(The weather’s) not good. But it’s work. You have to do what you have to do,” he said
Others who spend their workday navigating the roads also had to adjust.
Saskatoon police reported there were 17 collisions on city roads between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Three of those left people involved with minor injuries.
Bus driver Len Reddekopp said he noticed many drivers were perhaps a bit too timid, given the roads on his route weren’t particularly slick.
“It’s good to be cautious. But to be over-cautious, then you’re holding up traffic and someone’s going to do something stupid to try and pass, and then you get the accident,” he said.
Reddekopp wasn’t letting the blast of cold weather dampen his spirits, even if it didn’t feel great to have to brush the bus off in early October. He said the kids he transported throughout the day helped him keep things in perspective.
“Kids love the snow. Kids, they throw snowballs and they’re forever having a good time…it’s Christmas,” he said.
Len and Shirley say the roads weren’t bad on the morning bus route, said it was sad to brush off the bus #yxe @ckomnews pic.twitter.com/yOTSkH6AcD
— JT Marshall (@jtmarshallCKOM) October 5, 2016
City responds to morning power outages, Environment Canada says warmer weather will return
Saskatoon woke up to snow, wind and power outages Wednesday morning.
A cold weather system out of Montana brought the first blast of winter to much of Saskatchewan overnight Tuesday, with the Bridge City seeing several centimetres of snow early Wednesday morning.
The weather strained the city’s power grid, with reports of multiple outages starting around 4 a.m. A City of Saskatoon update stated five main outages were caused by snow, ice and wind. In some cases, tree limbs came in contact with power lines. The update stated most power was restored by 8 a.m., with crews working to get power back on in a few smaller pockets.
Grosvenor Park, Sutherland, Riversdale and Pleasant Hill were among the neighbourhoods affected.
Outages caused traffic lights to go out at several intersections, which caused a few slowdowns. No major accidents were reported and road conditions generally weren’t slippery as not much snow accumulated on the streets. However, the city warned that Circle Drive was seeing accumulations of slush and water, with workers out applying salt.
Drivers were urged to be cautious, as high winds were preventing the use of bucket trucks to clear snow off of overhead traffic lights. The city warned some roadside signs could also be obscured by snow.
The City of Saskatoon provides regular updates on power outages on its website and through a dedicated Twitter account.
Environment Canada chief meteorologist David Phillips said he sympathized with people in Saskatoon who weren’t quite ready to shovel walks and clear snow off windshields at this time of the year.
“This is something you’d expect in January, not October,” he said.
But Phillips said not to expect full-on winter just yet, highs should climb back into double digits around the middle of next week.
“Take out the snow shovel, but don’t put away the golf clubs,” he said.
Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning for the city, advising that about 10-15 centimetres of snow was expected to fall by midday Thursday.
-with files from JT Marshall