Main Street has been plowed in Melfort as crews pile snow in the middle of the street to still allow parking along the side. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Snowmageddon 2020

‘Quite a spectacular storm’: Totals still unknown, crews working to clear roads in Melfort

Nov 9, 2020 | 12:55 PM

The snow fell over the weekend with no mercy on the Saskatchewan people.

Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada Terri Lang said it’s difficult to determine how much snow really fell over the weekend. She said wind at the local airports can create some discrepancy with the measurements. However, there was a volunteer observation around the Codette area that had about 33 cm of snow with the snow depth at around 40.6 cm.

“In the Melfort area, we can try and estimate,” Lang said. “It looks like there’s about 30 to 40 cm in that area.”

Lang added the totals could be even more in places like Hudson Bay.

The snow began late Friday, Nov. 6 as the Melfort Mustangs were just finishing up their first win of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season, and continued on until early Monday morning. Lang said with the wind creating havoc with the snow, it’s still unknown whether there were some records broken over the weekend or not.

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“Certainly, one day snowfall records would be in that vicinity,” she said. “But without any official observations, we can’t declare any snowfall records.”

She added the wind makes observing difficult because it’s unknown how much snow is falling and how much is blowing.

Some people might be seeing something like this outside their doors today depending on the wind and which way they are facing. (submitted photo/Dylan Doehl)

Lang said this ‘Colorado low’ first showed up on the weather models over a week ago, and things didn’t really change as it approached Saskatchewan, and it came and went as expected.

“It’s such a unique system,” Lang told northeastNOW. “We don’t see these very often, but the weather models had a really good handle on what was going to happen, so it’s quite a spectacular storm.”

With the large amount of snow, Lang said roads will still be very dangerous for a while still, and for people to check the Highway Hotline for local conditions.

Lang said snow is expected again later in the week, but only a few centimetres.

Meanwhile, the City of Melfort is working diligently to make sure roads are cleared for residents.

Brent Lutz, the city’s director of development planning and community relations, said crews began clearing snow at the early hours of the morning. He said crews work on a priority basis for clearing roads.

“Firstly, crews will attend to the main arteries throughout the community,” Lutz said. “So, that’s streets like Saskatchewan Drive, Brunswick Street, Broadway Avenue, Park Avenue, Shadd Drive, etc.”

Crews will then move onto the ‘downtown core streets’ which includes Main Street, and some of the other secondary streets with businesses.

Side streets like this one could be waiting a few days before the snow gets cleared. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

Lutz said crews try and get the main arterial roads done within 48 hours of snowfall, but mentioned that will be difficult with the amount of snow received.

“We encourage everyone just to be patient on your local street,” he said. “It’s going to be a while until we can get down your street there to open things up for you.”

Lutz is also asking residents when shoveling their driveways, to not pile snow on the road, but rather shovel it off to the side.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6