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City of Regina snow removal crews are facing a quick turnaround this weekend as they prepare to face another snowstorm over the weekend.
Regina is expected to get up to 25 centimetres of snow from Saturday into Sunday.
Rose Carlsen, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) confirmed on Saturday that there had been no changes to the forecast and the snowstorm was still coming.
“So far, things are shaping up as we expected,” Carlsen said.
“Guidance has been handling the the early evolution of this system fairly well, and we’re not anticipating making a lot of changes to the forecast this afternoon. Snow is started to develop over southern Alberta and western southwest Saskatchewan today, and the heaviest snow should begin to taper off by tomorrow morning,” she said.
Carlsen said people should also expect lighter snow to linger over the southern half of the province on Sunday as well.
The City of Regina declared snow routes in effect on Saturday afternoon, effective from 6 a.m. on Sunday, until 6 a.m. on Monday.
The snow route sign is a blue background with a white snowflake. When a snow route is called, cars cannot park on the affected roads. (980 CJME file photo)
The city said in a news release that there is no on-street parking along the routes identified by blue signs with a white snowflake to allow crews to plow the roads from curb to curb, improving traffic flow. It also help makes sure roads are passable for emergency response vehicles.
Vehicles which remain parked on the snow route during the temporary parking ban will be ticketed and could also be towed to an adjacent block during the plow, the city added.
Jenny Hagan is a severe weather specialist in the Kindersley area. She’s watching the road conditions and said things are changing rapidly.
“We’re starting to see conditions deteriorate, especially out on those roadways both east and west those roads are starting to drift up,” she said.
Snow just started moving into west central #Saskatchewan and we are already seeing drifting on East West roads. Expect road conditions to change rapidly with this incoming #skstorm pic.twitter.com/UKVhN2nDD5
— Jenny Hagan LostInSk (@LostInSk) November 23, 2024
She said we can expect to see heavy snowfall in the area and encourages people to check the Highway Hotline or local Facebook groups before hitting the roads.
Hagan said road conditions have deteriorated throughout the day.
“We’ve seen a bit heavier snowfall move in, and those wind gusts picking up,” she said.
“We’ve hit probably around 50 km hour wind gusts. So that’s really drifting in that snow. Highways are definitely starting to build up with that snow everywhere from Eatonia right down to the U.S. border right along this Alberta Saskatchewan border, are all completely snow covered and a lot of reduced visibility around the region.”
As for what people can expect waking up Sunday morning, expect to see lots of shovels and snow blowers.
“(In the) Regina area, we’re probably expecting around that 15 centimeters of snow the last I checked,” she said.
“We’re going to have those gusty winds follow this system in so even as the snowfall tapers off, those gusty winds are going to continue to reduce visibility.
“A little bit further north right along that central area of Saskatchewan, that’s where the heavier snowfall amounts are going to be, where you’re hitting upwards of 40 centimeters in some places.”
For anyone who has to travel around the province, Hagan encourages people to be prepared.
“If anybody’s travelling, you’re going to want your winter safety kit, so warm blankets, candles, just in case you get stranded,” she said.
“Definitely carry your winter gear with you like winter boots, toque, mitts, everything to stay warm. If you’re travelling longer distance, it’s always good to as well to take food along with you — food and water, just in case you end up stranded.”
Winter storm coverage is Hagan’s specialty, she’s been doing this for 14 years.
“What I always tell people is, what it looks like in town isn’t often what it’s going to be like when you hit those highways,” she said.
“So I take an opportunity to be just outside of town, being able to show you what those conditions are like out there. That might encourage some people to just stay put rather than travelling out on those roadways.”
Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation, said the city was scheduled to wrap up its systematic plow — which covers all of Regina’s major roads — on Friday afternoon after 10 cm of snow fell on Tuesday through Wednesday.
“We know that keeping our roads safe is a top priority, and we’ll have crews working around the clock to tackle the storm,” Warren said.
Warren said the city didn’t have as much time to prepare for this storm as it normally would, due to still dealing with the effects of earlier storm.
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“We do have our full complement of equipment and resources, that includes both our internal crews and our contracted crew,s ready to go for this upcoming storm,” Warren said.
“Typically we’ll be in a response to clear open major roads, major intersections, perimeter roads, and those neighborhoods on the perimeter during the storm and the snowfall.”
Warren said some of the areas on the city’s perimeter are at risk of becoming impassable due to drifting and blowing snow.
“If there is a road that’s blocked in or impassable, we would just ask residents to call Service Regina, either through the phone or through the website,” he said.
“Let us know that there’s a problem with the road. We have people looking at those service requests, inspecting them, and then assigning the work, if work is needed.”
Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina. (Screengrab)
Warren said he expects the city to have about 50 pieces of equipment working throughout the weekend.
Warren said the storm earlier in the week didn’t trigger a residential plow as the city received 10 cm of snow instead of the 15 cm required for a plow of Category 5 (residential) roads.
However, Warren acknowledged the city still received several calls about blocked impassable residential roads.
“We have spent a considerable amount of time over the last number of days on some of those residential roads where they’ve been blocked or had some severe drifting of snow, and making sure that we’re making those open and passable,” Warren said.
— with files from Nicole Garn, 980 CJME
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