People flock to grocery stores as weekend winter storm approaches

People across Saskatoon were stocking up on essential supplies Friday for last-minute storm preparations.

Environment Canada chief meteorologist David Phillips called the storm “legendary” with two systems arriving over the weekend — a smaller storm bringing up to 15 cm on Saturday and another 30 to 50 cm expected on Sunday along with wind gusts up to 70 km/h.

“I think Saskatoon is on the edge of the worst,” Phillips said on Saskatchewan Afternoon.

“It’s nasty. It’s a rude ending to this warm spell.”

With city officials warning the public on Thursday to stay home as much as possible, grocery stores across the city had parking lots packed with people looking to wait out the storm over the weekend.

Costco on Market Drive had upwards of 200 people lined up outside the door Friday afternoon.

Bob Dobrinski hadn’t been to Costco in months but picked Friday to stock up on some supplies with weekend company arriving in the evening.

“I’ve never seen (a lineup) this long,” he said. “Bad timing on my behalf.”

Angie Smith was in line for a few items and was crossing her fingers hoping the weather forecast would drastically change by Sunday.

“It’s unpredictable — we might have nothing at all,” she said.

While Phillips can’t predict the weather with complete assurance all the time, he said some form of heavy snow will fall no matter what.

With 45 cm expected to fall in a 24-hour period, Phillips compared the forecast to the January 10, 2007 blizzard that shutdown Saskatoon for the day.

“Some people are likening it to the big nasty blizzard back in January of 2007 when Saskatoon got 36 cm of snow,” he said.

“Could this be half of winter’s snowfall in one day? “My gosh, that would make it one of the biggest dumps on record, and records go back over 100 years.”

Mentions of that storm brought back some bad memories for Angie Smith, who was also in line at Costco. During that 2007 storm, a routine drive that usually takes no longer than 10 minutes.

“That was the longest trip I’ve ever made,” Smith said.

“If it gets to be that bad, it will be interesting to see it.”

Dobrinski has nothing to do over the weekend, so he wouldn’t mind a day or two with nothing to do.

“For me, it’s not a big deal. You wait a couple of days and then it’s back to normal,” he said.

“People want to go out the same day the storm is happening and then they complain about the roads. I don’t get it. Just wait a day or two and you’re fine.”

Bob McCrae and Carol Gallagher live near Donovan, Sask. and had very different reactions to the possibility of a major snowfall, calling it “awesome.”

“Yay, the water table is going up, ” Gallagher said.

“Stay home, it’s great,” McCrea said, knowing he has multiple types of machinery to dig him out if necessary.

“I can get some work done in the basement if I can’t go outside.”