Strong winds expected for southern Saskatchewan

The winds could provide some scares for people ahead of Halloween.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement due to high winds for much of southern Saskatchewan. Wind warnings also were issued for the southeast corner of the province.

The weather agency says gusts could reach 80 kilometres per hour overnight in a lot of areas.

It said a fast-moving system crossing the prairies will bring gusty winds to southern Saskatchewan through Saturday. The southeastern corner is expected to see the strongest winds.

But Environment Canada’s Terri Lang said those winds are expected to taper off by Halloween night.

“It should have eased off, but because the northwesterly winds would have brought in that cooler air, it’s going to feel quite cold when the kids start heading out. Just make sure everyone’s bundled up nicely,” Lang said.

Heavy snowfall is also expected in central Saskatchewan, with snowfall warnings issued for areas like Hudson Bay, La Ronge and Melfort. Lang said there will also be patches of freezing rain along Highway 16.

“Because there’s mild temperatures ahead of this weather system, if there’s any kind of melting or any kind of precipitation, that will freeze with (Saturday’s) winds as well so those roads might be kind of slippery on Halloween night if people are out and about on the highways,” Lang said.

Lang said spring and fall are the two seasons in which Saskatchewan sees the strongest winds because of the transitioning between warm and cold temperatures.

“We’ve seen some really drastic temperature changes over the last couple of weeks. It was in the lows 20s for a while and then it went down below freezing and it’s supposed to be up in the mid-teens again early next week,” Lang said. “With those big temperature changes, we usually see a lot of wind with them.”