Snow, freezing rain warnings issued for SW Saskatchewan

A fast-moving weather system out of Alberta is bringing snow and freezing rain to southwest Saskatchewan.

Environment Canada issued weather warnings for snowfall in Leader and freezing rain in Shaunavon.

Meteorologist David Baggley said the weather service expected the conditions to linger through most of the day, likely causing some headaches on the highways around both communities.

“You’ll get the low visibility from the falling snow, plus the slipperiness from the freezing rain,” he said.

Baggley said the system had begun moving into southwestern Saskatchewan by about 5 am Friday. However, he said the worst of it was expected to taper off in areas further north and east — leaving both Regina and Saskatoon relatively untouched.

Regina was expected to get periods of light snow starting Friday afternoon, but Baggley said it wasn’t likely to amount to much.

In Saskatoon, the forecast was for a 30 per cent chance of flurries.

Baggley said a warm front would be following in behind Friday’s weather system, bringing temperatures above 0 C for most of Saskatchewan over the weekend.

Temperatures were expected to cool back down again by the middle of next week, with most areas of Saskatchewan expected to dip to daytime highs below -5 C.