Canada Global(Web News)The winter storm expected this weekend began to hit areas of western Saskatchewan, particularly the Bitfords, on Saturday afternoon. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, a snow system from Montana is expected to dump the province overnight and into Sunday.
Up to 35 centimeters of snow was forecast for parts of the province over the weekend, but Environment Canada meteorologist Justin Scheer said Saturday it was still difficult to get an accurate estimate.
“It’s hard to get measurements right now, just because of the wind it’s blowing around, so we don’t have any measurements yet
with gusts of 50 to 70 km/h in some areas,” he said. have already been seen, impairing visibility with near-whiteout conditions on the highways.
According to Saskatchewan’s Highway Hotline, travel is not recommended for most areas of Highway 7 on the west side of the province, such as Kindersley, Rosetown and Marengo.
Travel is also not recommended on parts of Highway 4, including around Biggar, according to the hotline.
As of 4 p.m. CST Saturday, only one power outage was reported in the province, but none were attributed to the storm.
SaskPower says anyone approaching a downed power line should stay at least 10 meters away and call 306-310-2220 to report it.
According to Shire, the south-east will be affected by the storm starting on Sunday. Areas such as Regina, Estevan and Yorkton are expected to experience gusty winds and piles of snow before the system closes into Manitoba.