RCMP advise of multiple pileups on Sask. highways as winter weather hits province

Southern Saskatchewan faces challenging roads as wind gusts near 100 km/h in Regina and drifting snow. Damian Smith has more.

As another round of winter weather hit Saskatchewan, the RCMP advised drivers of poor conditions on highways in the central and southern parts of the province.

On Friday morning, officers were at the scene of multiple vehicle pileups near the intersection of Highway 46 and Highway 1, southwest of Balgonie. Highway 46 was also closed for an undetermined amount of time, with several other highways in the Regina area closed.

According to RCMP, officers also responded to a collision on Highway 10, south of the 364 junction near Edgeley. RCMP say they also received reports of vehicles in the ditch due to poor road conditions, ice, snow covered lanes, drifting and blowing snow, road closures or detours, and strong winds.

Before heading out on the highway, the RCMP advises people to check the weather and road conditions along their route and consider delaying travel if poor conditions are forecasted.

“It can be deceiving when it looks sunny out,” said Mandy Maier, the head of strategic communications services for the RCMP. “When we look outside, you can see some blue skies, but it’s not necessarily the road conditions that are causing this. It is that visibility piece blowing that fresh snow around at times. There’s near-zero visibility.”

If travel is necessary, RCMP reminded drivers to stay on roads that have been recently maintained. The Highway Hotline allows travellers to access information on what road conditions have been plowed, salted, or sanded within the last two hours.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) also issued a yellow advisory for blowing snow for southern parts of the province on Friday morning.

As of 10:17 a.m., ECCC said poor visibility in snow and blowing snow was expected in some locations, including Bengough, Weyburn, and areas surrounding those communities.

The weather agency said travel will likely be hazardous dur to near-zero visibility, with the advisory lifting on Friday afternoon. For current weather watches and warnings, visit ECCC.

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From 6 p.m. on Thursday to 10 a.m. on Friday morning, the Saskatchewan RCMP received 44 reports of collisions and 28 traffic hazard reports around the Regina area.

For residents in the Cathedral neighbourhood, it was not a breath of fresh air.

For Jenna Boyko, it’s almost like a regular day for the Regina born and raised. On her usual run, she didn’t let the winds stop her.

“It’s Saskatchewan, it gets extremely windy. This is remarkable weather, this is not new to us,” she said.

Boyko was working in Lestock on Thursday, but was able to make it back to Regina before wind speeds really started to pick up.

“We could still travel [at the time], but you could see that there were semis in the ditch, cars in the ditch, and conditions were just getting worse. I was just thankful to be off the road kind of at 5 p.m.,” she said.

A resident of over 10 years, resident John Agnew was astounded by the wind speed while walking his dog.

“As we were walking down Pasqua about 20 minutes ago, this was as bad as it gets, it was really like it was full bore wind. There was no break, and it wasn’t a gust. It was like a cannon fire of freezing weather, it was unbelievable,” he said.

However, compared to what it looked like on the outskirts of Regina, runners and shovellers in the neighbourhood are grateful to live in the city’s center - blocking off the heavy winds.

Rich Gosselin, a resident of the Cathedral for 37 years, has seen worse conditions.

“Well, it hasn’t really been that terrible. We were up this morning in the vehicle, and roads are heavy, but not bad. It was a bit windy, but you can dress for that,”

Despite the harsh conditions, an estimate of just a few centimetres of snow have fallen since the wind speeds started to pick up on Thursday evening.

The Regina International Airport also reported that several flights were also delayed or cancelled due to the weather. For current flight delays and cancellations, visit the YQR website.