After dump of snow, cold weather on the way

Heavy snow blanketed parts of southern Saskatchewan Friday morning, leading to weather warnings and treacherous driving conditions in some areas.

John Paul Cragg, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said areas that were under snowfall warnings were expected to see a total snowfall of 10 to 15 centimetres. That includes Saskatoon, and the southeast areas of Yorkton, Melville,Moosomin andGrenfell.

• City of Saskatoon says snow-clearing service running at full steam

Now, winds are expected to increase, especially in southeastern Saskatchewan, with blowing snow as a result, he said. That's typical of Alberta clippers the weather system that caused this dump of snow.

Cragg said the wind could be as strong as 40 kilometres per hour, with gusts up to 60 km/hr.

Environment Canada warned drivers to adjust their driving with changing road conditions.

It said rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult in some locations andvisibility could be suddenly reduced in heavy snow.

Cold temperatures on the way

Craggsaid another thing that often happens following an Alberta clipperis a dip into cold temperatures, which he said should arrive in southern Saskatchewan by New Year's Day.

The cold, Arctic air will likely bring dryer conditions,Craggsaid.

As for the rest of the season, Cragg said Saskatchewan will likely see an average winter even though it may not feel that way.

"This winter may seem like it's severe in comparison to the conditions we experienced last winter, but it doesn't look like we're going to be having an extraordinarily cold winter," he said.

Some roads improving

The provincial Highway Hotline service askeddrivers to avoid a number of highways around Saskatoon on Friday morning. Only small sections of road on Highway376 and Highway 51, west of Biggar, were still closed at noon.

For more information on highway conditions visit the Highway Hotlinewebsite. Weather updates can be found at theEnvironment Canada website.