First snowfall for parts of Sask. as south still waits for winter

The first brush with winter came for many parts of Saskatchewan overnight Wednesday.

While Environment Canada had called for snowfall throughout most of the province, areas to the south were mainly spared.

In Saskatoon, people woke up Thursday morning to a light dusting of snow lingering on lawns and vehicles. Regina and the surrounding area only had a bit of rain overnight.

Environment Canada meteorologist David Baggaley said areas further north got the most snow.

“If I had to guess, Hudson Bay probably was the winner, if you want to call it that,” he said.

Baggaley said Prince Albert also got about three centimetres of snow.

Baggaley said areas around Saskatoon and further north didn’t quite get the 70 km/hr winds called for in forecasts earlier this week, with gusts hitting closer to 50 or 60 km/h.

In the south, Baggaley said Cypress Hills did see winds gusting well above 80 km/h.

Baggaley said temperatures were expected to warm up to above freezing through the day Thursday and throughout the rest of the week, meaning most snow would likely melt.

While the weather system that moved into the province didn’t appear to have created freezing rain, Baggaley said the roads could still get slippery through the rest of the week.

“You did have a transition from above freezing temperatures to below and now we go back-and-forth for the next couple days.”

By early Thursday morning, Saskatchewan’s Highway Hotline was reporting wet roads subject to freezing along most of the highways north of Saskatoon and stretching down to the area around Yorkton.