As most Canadians busy themselves with Thanksgiving preparations this week, Prairie inhabitants have been struggling with an unwelcome snowstorm. It’s only been two weeks into autumn and parts of central and southwest Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba have already received their first taste of winter.
Snow from a low-pressure system began falling in Saskatchewan on Tuesday with some parts of the province, such as Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, seeing 40 centimetres of snow by Wednesday evening, according to Environment Canada estimates. In Saskatoon, residents woke up to a winter wonderland on Wednesday with trees, roads and cars blanketed in the white stuff. The city saw an accumulation of 17 centimetres of snow by Wednesday evening. Many upset citizens took to social media to share videos of the blustery conditions and to express their displeasure with the early storm.
One Instagram user remarked that it was only Oct. 4 in a video he posted of the street outside his window in Saskatoon.
“Happy October the fourth everyone,” he said. “You can’t see it, but it’s snowing.”
Another Instagram poster shot a video with snowflakes visibly falling around her on the street.
“Look at this. This is disgusting,” she said. “It’s blizzarding (sic) in October.”
Saskatoon broke a 100-year-old record for the most snow for Oct. 5. According to Environment Canada, the previous record was 5.6 centimetres in 1916. On Thursday morning, CTV Saskatoon’s Maleeha Sheikh told CTV News Channel that the temperature in the city was -2 C with the wind chill making it feel like -8 C. She said the average temperature for this time of year is usually around 13 C in Saskatoon.
On Wednesday, there were reports of multiple collisions and numerous power outages throughout the city. First responders have been pleading with motorists to drive carefully and adjust their speed for the slippery road conditions.
As of Thursday morning, Saskatoon and other regions of the province were still under a snowfall warning by Environment Canada. Some of those areas include Prince Albert, Pelican Narrows, La Ronge, Southend and Melfort. The weather agency cautioned that some of these places could expect another two to four centimetres on Thursday before tapering off later in the day.
Manitoba
Saskatchewan isn’t the only province suffering this week. Manitoba residents have also been dealing with their fair share of miserable weather. Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning on Thursday for Lynn Lake, Thompson, Flin Flon and Nelson House. They expect an additional 10 to 15 centimetres of snow to fall in these areas before the storm gradually weakens later in the day. Some regions of the province have already received around 20 centimetres. Central and northern Manitoba has had a mix of rain, wet snow and gusting winds all week.
Snow blanketed a farm in Rossburn, MB this week. (Noreen Maduke/MyNews)
