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Snow, freezing rain leave slippery mess

Mar 7, 2016 | 5:48 AM

People getting up in the northwest Monday morning faced some scraping on their vehicles, and potentially slippery roads.

A snowfall warning was in effect overnight for the Battlefords and Meadow Lake areas, but was lifted after 6 a.m. Snowfall totals were not expected to be as high as first thought when the warnings were issued Sunday. The forecast for Meadow Lake was for up to 4 cm of snow by noon. No total was even being given for the Battlefords, which was right on the line between snow and freezing rain.

“It’s actually a slightly smaller system than expected,” said Jason Knight, Environment Canada meteorologist. “It looks like the heaviest snow is a little more to the north, between the Battlefords and Meadow Lake.”

Knight said the system was expected to move out later in the morning, with warmer temperatures in the forecast for later in the week.

The Highway Hotline was not recommending travel early Monday morning on Battlefords-area highways. Streets in the Battlefords were coated with crusty snow that had been mixed with freezing rain.

A freezing rain warning was in effect for the Prince Albert region, which includes Spiritwood and the surrounding area.

The system follows a warm weekend in which the Battlefords reached a high of six on Saturday and Meadow Lake saw daytime highs of three. But in southern Saskatchewan temperatures reached 17 in Regina and Moose Jaw, and 20 in Maple Creek.

 

gsmith@jpbg.ca
Twitter: @smithco