Residents in southeast Saskatchewan are bracing for a significant weather shift as a low-pressure system from the United States moves into the region. The system is expected to bring snow, strong winds, and colder temperatures.
“What’s going on is there’s actually a low-pressure system tracking up from the United States that’s going to be impacting Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” said Danielle Desjardins, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. “On the other side of that, there’s cold air coming down from the Arctic. So, the prairies are kind of sandwiched in between these two air masses, which is going to bring a lot of snow and then also those colder temperatures in behind that low-pressure system.”
Heavy snow, strong winds, and reduced visibility are expected, though Desjardins clarified: “At this point, we’re not expecting it to be a full blizzard,” noting that blowing snow may cause patchy whiteout conditions.
“The temperatures are still going to be a little bit mild, so the snow is going to be pretty heavy. It takes really strong winds to blow that around. It won’t be quite as bad as the snow that blows around when it’s really, really cold out,” she added.
Daytime highs will range between -3 and -8°C over the next week, with overnight lows dipping into the minus teens.
Looking ahead, Desjardins said the region may be settling into winter conditions for the foreseeable future. “For the next few weeks, it looks like this is kind of winter settling in. That’s not to say that we couldn’t get a couple warm periods throughout the winter, but for the next few weeks, it looks like the negative temperatures are settling in.”