Southern Sask. coated in snow, expected to stay through Halloween

The first taste of winter greeted Saskatchewan on Tuesday morning with a combination of rain and snow.

Environment Canada continued snowfall warnings for southern and southwest areas of the province while placing the southeast area under a special weather statement.

Chris Stammers, a lead forecaster with Environment Canada, said the hardest-hit areas could see snowfall amounts of 10 to 15 centimetres before the system tapers off from west to east through the day.

“We did have a report of 10 centimetres falling south of Kindersley. That lines up nicely with where we thought the heaviest band (of snow) would be between Kindersley and Swift Current, ” Stammers said.

The cold air mass system coming from Alberta extends down toward the U.S. border following Highway 11 up to the southern edge of Saskatoon.

“Saskatoon is kind of on the northern periphery. They’re getting some really light snow,” said Stammers, who added any accumulation the city receives will be minimal.

“It is covering much of southern Saskatchewan but certainly the heaviest snow is confined to a narrow band in and around the Regina area.”

Stammers said the downturn of winter temperatures means some areas of the province could be in store for a snowy Halloween.

“We are expecting below seasonal temperatures for the next 10 to 14 days,” he said.

“It does look like the southeastern corner is going to get hit with a fair bit more snow over the coming days. So it looks like (the snow) will stick around, but we still can’t rule out some warmer temperatures later in November.

“Certainly the later you go, it becomes less likely.”

The first snowfall of the fall was not a smooth adjustment for drivers.

As of 8 a.m., the Highway Hotline lifted the travel advisory on the Regina Bypass, but said visibility was reduced on Highway 11 between Bethune and Davidson, and sections of Highway 2 and 48.

In a media release just after 9 a.m., Regina police said they had responded to four collisions since 4 a.m. Three of those collisions resulted in property damage with no injuries, while one crash — which occurred just before 6 a.m. at Ninth Avenue North and McCarthy Boulevard — involved minor injuries.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie