Tuesday morning was a rude awakening for people across Saskatchewan. Saskatoon is one of many communities hit by a blast of November snow.
While the brunt of this snowstorm was felt out east, Saskatoon city crews have been hard at work digging out from the fresh dump of snow.
“Our operations started last night. Our crews have been working around the clock, throughout the night,” said Goran Saric, Saskatoon’s Director of Roadways, Fleet and Support. “The focus was on minimizing snow accumulation on our high traffic, high-speed streets such as Circle Drive and College Drive.”
The city has activated contractor crews to assist with snow clearing. They are focusing on priority one streets within the next 72 hours, and will then move on to priority two and three streets.
“One of the challenges is some of the work had to be re-done this morning and may have to be re-done throughout the day because snow continues to fall,” said Saric. “The intent is not to end up with any snowpack.”
Unlike Saskatoon’s recent brief snowfalls, this snowfall is expected to stick. Environment and Climate Change Canada stated that after an unusually warm fall, winter is now fully underway.
“We’re going to get a ridge of high pressure and we’re going to get temperatures that are going to dip below normal for this time of year,” said Danielle Desjardins, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. “I do expect that the snow is going to stick and not melt anytime soon.”
Saskatoon Police reported responding to multiple collisions since the snow began to fall, noting that no one sustained serious injuries.
Highways leading in and out of Saskatoon remained treacherous on Tuesday in some areas, and strong wind gusts have further worsened road conditions.
“We’re seeing very poor visibility on highways so it makes for poor travel conditions, and the other thing is sometimes that wind can polish the highways,” said Desjardins.
Environment and Climate Change Canada said it anticipates this snowstorm will diminish overnight Tuesday. However, another weather system is expected to bring additional snow over the weekend, impacting Saskatoon and the southern parts of the province.