January ended off with a multitude of road closures around the province due to severe weather conditions.
The Highway Hotline map was covered in red for most of the night yesterday with near zero visibility in some areas.
Shannon Moodie with Environment Canada said the Alberta clipper that swept through Saskatchewan is now hitting Manitoba.
“It ripped through the prairies and brought all kinds of inclement weather,” Moodie said.
(Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW staff)She added the storm hasn’t completely moved out of the province just yet but now we can look forward to cold arctic air moving in and extreme cold warnings in some areas can be expected over the next few days. Colder than normal temperatures will be here for the first week of February.
As of Tuesday afternoon, ‘winter conditions’ are being reported by the Highway Hotline in most areas of the province including the northeast.
Highway 368 near St. Brieux Coop on Tuesday morning. (Facebook/Dan Hunt)Currently, the junction of Highway 5 and 2 is closed due to a collision. RCMP are on site and motorists are asked to slow down and watch for emergency responders and equipment.
In Melfort, travel was not recommended on most highways surrounding the city but no roads were actually closed. All roads in and out of Humboldt were closed and conditions seemed to be worse towards the south.
Snow drifts are still being reported this afternoon in the westbound lanes of Highway 41 from Melfort to Saskatoon.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be a hectic night for emergency responders in the Melfort region. According to Fire Chief Shaun Stewart, the Melfort Fire Department had no calls before, during, or after the storm went through the area.
Last night, the Horizon School Division made the decision to move to online learning for the day due to the blizzard conditions.
School buses in the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division were cancelled for the day. St. Augustine and St. Dominic Schools in Humboldt also cancelled classes.
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angie.rolheiser@pattisonmedia.com
On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser
