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After another major snow dump across the province, many people in Saskatchewan may begin counting down the days to spring.
So far this winter Saskatoon and Regina have combined for around 80 centimeters of snow — just over two and a half feet.
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David Phillips, Senior Climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said that’s close to the seasonal average
“(The) normal would be about 55 to 58 (cm),” said Phillips.
Phillips said Saskatchewan has seen close to double last winter’s total.
For those who are hoping for a warm spell Phillips said they will have to keep waiting.
“I don’t see any break coming,” he said. “I look at the models, I look at the daily forecasts, the weekly forecasts from now until the end of February and I don’t see any melting temperatures.”
Phillips did note a slight warm up is expected by the end of next week, but that won’t signal the start of spring.
“Spring always comes — the question is, ‘is it early or is it late?’,” said Phillips. “You get so much snow on the prairies that when the warm air arrives, it doesn’t feel very warm.”
He said it’s hard for people to feel like it’s springtime while there is still snow on the ground.
But as people wait for spring to eventually show up, Phillips said there’s definitely a good chunk of people who are happy with the snow.
“Certainly farmers, growers (and) ranchers have to be happy with the amount of moisture that they’ve seen,” said Phillips.
One of those farmers that is happy to see all this snow is Glenn Payne.
“Well, you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth I suppose,” he said. “Most areas can use all the additional moisture they can get.”
Payne says the mounds of snow around his farm will melt in the spring, bringing good moisture to his fields.
The only issue with the snow is shovelling it away so he can get his trucks into his yards
“Most areas can use all the moisture they can get,” he said.
Anisten Thom, a farmer north of Langenburg, said her fields actually saw too much water last year and flooded.
“I think the snow can cause some issues, but we are used to the later seeding time back there. I don’t think it will cause too many issues right now.
“We’ve definitely had more snow in the past, so if we can do it then, we can do it now.”
She said a lack of moisture wasn’t a problem for some areas on the east side of the province last year.
— With files from 980CJME’s Gillian Massie
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