Saskatoon declares 'snow event,' travel not recommended on some Sask. highways

Residents in Saskatoon are waking up to a snow dump.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued snowfall warnings for the Battlefords and Saskatoon areas early Friday morning. The warning estimated snowfall total amounts to range from 10 to 20 centimetres, and for snowfall to continue for the morning.

ECCC also advised the accumulated snow might make travel difficult, with reduced visibility and treacherous road conditions. 

"We are still seeing the impacts of the Alberta Clipper system that began to impact Saskatchewan late Wednesday into Thursday. We're still seeing a band of of snow just kind of north of the Yellowhead Highway," said Danielle Desjardins, a meteorologist for ECCC.

Highway 11 was briefly closed from Dundurn to Davidson, but as of 7:15 a.m. CST, that warning had been reduced, according to the Highway Hotline, which said travel was not recommended.

Just outside of Saskatoon, Highway 16 from Arpiers to Dafoe was closed, along with nearby stretches of Highway 20 to Humboldt. ECCC said the band of snow will ease through the morning, but temperatures won't get above zero until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

"For the weekend, for example, we're looking at daytime highs in the, you know, kind of -5 C range," Desjardins said. "Come Wednesday, we're back to about normal for this time of year, [with a] normal high of 6 C and a low of -5 C for the Saskatoon area."

Desjardins said it's not uncommon to see a major snowfall at this time of year.

"March is one of the snowier months of the year. In Saskatoon, it's the third snowiest behind December and January, so definitely not uncommon to see these type of events."

The City of Saskatoon declared a "snow event" after the heavy snowfall, which it measured at 12 centimetres of total accumulation.

The city said strong winds are creating bad road conditions, and it sent 28 graders and six plows out to clear priority streets.