Storm falls flat, cold snap still expected for Saskatchewan

Despite rain, freezing rain, snow and strong winds, Environment Canada says Thursday’s storm didn’t quite live up to its expectations.

“We were expecting snowfall to be a bit higher in the eastern areas of the province,” meteorologist Shannon Moodie said Friday morning. “We were looking at around five centimetres for those areas.”

Instead, the wind became the star of the storm.

“The wind gusts were pretty strong in through the southeastern part of the province. In the late afternoon/early evening, we had gusts to more than 90 kilometres per hour,” Moodie explained.

She says the strongest gusts were recorded in the Regina and Estevan areas.

Heading into the weekend, Moodie’s attention is shifting to cold air moving into Saskatchewan.

“I could say the good news is that you’re going to see the sun for a while, which is nice,” she joked.

The clearing cloud cover means the arrival of a cold snap from Siberia.

“We’ll see temperatures fall and then (Friday night), we’ll see -25 C or -27 C overnight lows and unfortunately it looks to stick around until at least next weekend,” Moodie said.

It will certainly be an adjustment from the mild conditions to start 2023, but Moodie believes after a few days and lots of layers, people will be acclimated.

“I think after a couple of days, our bodies will remember, ‘Oh yeah, we live in the Canadian prairies,’ and hopefully, we can get out and enjoy the sunshine a little bit,” she said.