As January comes to a close, the weather story of the month continues with blowing snow and cold temperatures in the area.
A blowing snow advisory has been issued for the Humboldt area on Friday.
Lead forecaster with Environment and Climate Change Canada Brad Vrolijk says conditions will deteriorate later today.
“Main weather story for this weekend is a low-pressure system that is developing in Alberta over the next 24 hours and as it does so, it’s going to push a warm front northeast into southern Saskatchewan.”
Vrolijk adds, “as that warm front move in, it’s going to bring accumulating snow to the area, along with that, increasing southeasterly winds that pick up to 40-60 km/h later today and through the night into Saturday before tapering off.”
Much like what the majority of Saskatchewan saw last Friday, Vrolijk expects the blowing snow could be an issue beginning this afternoon.
“Once the snow moves in and the winds pick up, we are expecting pretty wide blowing snow to develop across the region.
Vrolijk isn’t expecting today’s weather activity to develop into a blizzard but is still expecting poor visibility on the roads tonight.
When the snowfall begins later today, Vrolijk is anticipating the snowfall to remain steady over an 18–24-hour period, which could accumulate to a total of 5-10 cm, before tapering off on Saturday.
While last weekend’s weather activity led to some warm winter days in January, Vrolijk is projecting the first week of February to be a cold one.
“The warm pushes into southern Saskatchewan later today and tomorrow and then the low moves through and it’s going to bring that arctic cold front, slamming southward through the province.”
Even with the warm temperatures this week, Vrolijk says the arctic air didn’t truly move away.
“This system is going to be well organized enough that it’s going to draw that air down behind it.”
He notes that more blowing snow activity is expected for Sunday with winds from the northwest this time.
Vrolijk recommends that you check the highway hotline if you plan on travelling beginning in the afternoon on Friday and into Saturday. He adds that to make sure you have emergency kit in your vehicle when travelling.