Wind warnings in place once again: Environment Canada

Wednesday was a gusty day in Saskatchewan, and Estevan bore the brunt of it.

Environment Canada said its reports show wind speeds in Estevan got up to 93 kilometres per hour.

Meteorologist Terri Lang clarified the wind speeds, indicating no record was broken in Estevan. The weather office originally gave figures from a source they don’t use for their official records.

The only other area that saw winds over 90 km/h was Moose Jaw, which got gusts up to 91 km/h. That area, along with communities near Carlyle, is once again under extreme wind warnings.

“That low-pressure system is still stalled over northern Manitoba, so things have basically shifted about 100 kilometres to the east, which still leaves Estevan right in the peak of the strongest winds expected,” meteorologist Jason Knight said.

“This will be the last day for sure. The winds quieted down quite quickly (Wednesday) evening, but as soon as we get some daytime heating the winds ramp up quite quickly.

“By early evening it will tail off for good this time as, finally, this low-pressure system breaks up through the night and we will see mostly lighter winds — about 20 km/h — for Friday.”

There were also some travel disruptions caused by the wind.

“The strong winds have kicked up an enormous amount of dust and salt from dried-out lake beds,” Knight said. “We had reports of travel disruptions in the Rockglen area, as visibility dropped to near zero briefly on the roadways.”

Other communities saw high wind speeds on Wednesday. Yellow Grass was getting gusts up to 89 km/h, Coronach saw wind speeds of 87 km/h, Swift Current had winds up to 83 km/h, Regina saw winds moving at 81 km/h, and Saskatoon had wind speeds up to 76 km/h.

“Quite a widespread swath of about 75-85 km/h wind gusts across central and southern Saskatchewan,” Knight said.

Editor’s note: Environment Canada issued a statement clarifying the numbers previously given were not from a source they use when confirming records.