It's the burning question on the minds of many.

When will this prolonged winter-like weather finally release us from its frosty grip?

"It's getting to the point where I'm sure weather rage is breaking out. I'm sure people are not too happy," said David Phillips, Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada.

But Phillips said he can understand if people are feeling a little antsy. By this time last year temperatures in some parts of Saskatchewan were hitting the 27 C mark. Yesterday morning, the thermometer in Saskatoon read -12 C at one point.  

In a gesture to mark Earth day, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society is sending Premier Brad Wall and provincial Environment Minister Ken Cheveldayoff a letter, making their case for broad reforms to reduce the province's greenhouse gas emissions.

In an event at the society's offices in Saskatoon, Peter Prebble, the group's director of environmental policy, said Saskatchewan has one of the worst per-capita rates of carbon emissions in the world.

This may very well be the worst winter Saskatchewan has ever seen, but some of the people at the Regina Senior Citizen Centre's afternoon dance on Wednesday say they remember some winters being much worse.

"I would say (the winter of) '46," recalled Ted Seidik, "I worked on a ranch and it was colder than all heck up there.  I was looking after 600 head of cattle, and it was windy.  When I was hauling hay, it was loose and it would upset the rack and fall into the snow."

Seidik wasn't the only one who thought the winter of 1946-1947 was the worst.

Considering the weather this winter, it probably doesn't come as a surprise that cold temperatures are sticking around for a little while longer.

"March and April have been the second coldest they have been in the past 120 years," said Environment Canada's David Phillips.

"Nobody alive today can remember it being as cold as it has been in this period."

There is some relief on the way, but it's bittersweet.

"By this time next week we'll be into some warmer temperatures, but still below the normal," he said.

The spring melt hasn't hit in full force just yet but there has been some brief flooding across roads in certain places around Saskatchewan.

A few regions in the south central area of the province have already seen water flowing over roads including Highway 18 near McCord, Highway 363 and along Highway 16 by North Battleford. In most cases the water receded within a day.

In a weekly flooding update on Wednesday, Patrick Boyle with the Water Security Agency said that's really all they are seeing in terms of spring runoff so far.

Dozens of city crews worked to place sand barriers along 17th Avenue on Tuesday.

Higher-than-normal expected runoff has raised higher-than-normal flooding concerns along the Wascana creek in that area. The barriers run from Pasqua Street all the way to Elphinstone Street.

"We're thinking of bringing our canoe in from the cabin... just in case we want to make it home" jokes one man who lives on the lowest part of 17th Avenue.

Many residents nearby remember the flood prevention efforts of 2011. For some, the sand barriers are an annual sight.

What's been a long winter for everyone will have deadly effects on some wildlife in Saskatchewan.

"It is a very difficult winter for wildlife," said Brad Tokaruk, head of the allocation section of the fish and wildlife branch with the Ministry of Environment, "the depth of snow and the length that we've had a significant snow cover is definitely making it difficult for them to obtain food, and difficult for them to move."

This story has been updated since it was first posted.

A pelican has finally landed in Saskatoon.

"It's official," said Kat Blakely with the Meewasin Valley Centre, adding a bird landed at 3:40 p.m. on Monday.

The Saskatoon Nature Society had seen at least 22 pelicans flying over the city but none had landed in the "designated splash zone" for the Pelican Watch Contest until Monday afternoon.

The contest, where people submit guesses as to when the first pelicans would land between the train bridge and the weir, started in 1996.

The threat of imminent flooding has prompted 11 First Nations in the Qu’Appelle Valley to declare a state of emergency.

The bands are members of the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council and they made the move on Monday, saying the provincial disaster assistance program is too slow and cumbersome.

Tribal council chairman Ed Bellegarde says many bands are still waiting for aid after flooding three years ago. The council has a meeting planned for this week with federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt as it lobbies for direct aid from Ottawa.

Yes the snow is slowly melting in southern Saskatchewan, but provincial flood forecasters now say it’s not nearly fast enough.

“We haven’t lost much snow from melting and we’re probably losing some snow to sublimation which is the process of snow and ice changing into water vapour in the air without first melting into water,” explains Patrick Boyle with the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency.

Although the best case scenario for spring does require a slower spring melt, Boyle says the weather we're getting now is making it too slow.