Cold temperatures, milder winds in Sask. after blizzard: Environment Canada

Most people in Regina and eastern Saskatchewan woke up to a calmer — albeit colder —world.

For more than 36 hours, much of eastern Saskatchewan was rocked by blowing winds and heavy snowfall.

It caused chaos on the highways on Tuesday, as winds drastically reduced visibility. 

Environment Canada lifted all blizzard warnings Wednesday morning as conditions started to improve.

Meteorologist Mike Russo said around 4 or 5 a.m., visibility in the Estevan area was down by 400 metres. In a couple hours, it had improved to one-and-a-half to two kilometres.

Russo said clouds and flurries could be on the way for the Regina area, as a disturbance from southern Alberta moved into southwest Saskatchewan.

“We’ll see nothing like we’ve seen over the last two days,” he said. “With temperatures being much cooler today with this arctic air mass that’s coming behind this disturbance, we’ll be looking at a high of about -11 C for today.”

While cold, Russo said the winds that walloped the province for almost two days will diminish throughout Wednesday.

He said the area from Regina to Estevan was the windiest, gusting up to 93 to 96 kilometres per hour.

The southeastern area also saw the most snowfall, with Estevan receiving 21 to 22 centimetres. Next door in Manitoba, which saw the blizzard engulf the entire province, Brandon saw around 40 cm.

“It’s not unusual to see blizzards this time of year,” said Russo, adding this season is when the Prairies sees most of its blizzards. “What was impressive about this storm actually was the size of it. It affected a huge area so a good portion of Saskatchewan and pretty much all of Manitoba.”

Russo said the blizzard is now heading north to the arctic, causing warnings for many places among the Hudson Bay coast all the way up to Baffin Island.

—With files from Lisa Schick