The forecast for the May Long Weekend has taken quite a turn in the last 24 hours, with a Colorado low set to track across a good portion of province for the next several days.
Although the outlook is rather grim for those with weekend plans, don’t go cancelling them quite yet says Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist, Danielle Desjardins.
“It's going to be multiple days of unsettled weather, but you guys in Moose Jaw are kind of on the western extent of this,” she said.
“I’m not exceptionally confident that (Moose Jaw) is going to get a major soaking, but further east, yes, absolutely.”
According to current models, considerable precipitation in the southeastern portion of the province along the Manitoba border is almost guaranteed, however time will tell how hard we will be hit on the fringes of the system.
One thing that is certain is that temperatures in our region are going to fall off sharply, from our near-record highs to near or below-normal in short order.
“There is a lot of cold air in behind this Colorado low... so with those temperatures it’s likely that you could see some brief flurries overnight Friday into Saturday.”
She explained that those flurries are the worst-case scenario, and that Environment Canada can’t rule out freezing temperatures at some point in the near future.
However, it all depends on how the system tracks across the province leaving the potential for conditions to improve dramatically.
“The rest of the weekend looks pretty decent to be honest, no precipitation, just cooler,” Desjardins said.
“I wouldn’t travel east for the long weekend, but it’s not a wash just yet, but it will be quite a bit cooler and a huge difference from last weekend.”
There is a silver lining to the cool, wet weather in the forecast; the addition of some much-needed moisture.
“Other than the last day or so it’s been a pretty dry month for the province. So, it is definitely well needed moisture especially for the growing season.”