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Prince Albert evades brunt of snowfall

Nov 23, 2014 | 9:40 AM

Although hard hit by a snowfall starting Saturday morning, Prince Albert area was not at the epicentre of a provincewide snowfall warning.

Environment Canada issued the warning on Saturday, predicting the Saskatoon and Prince Albert areas would take the brunt of a low pressure system

“A low pressure system moved through southern Saskatchewan yesterday [Saturday] afternoon and through the night,” Environment Canada meteorologist Mark Gerlyand said. “By this morning it has already reached southwestern Manitoba.”

With the snowfall warning now behind us, Environment Canada reports Prince Albert had 6.6 (cm) centimetres of snow, or just over 2.5 inches, on the ground by midnight Saturday.

Meanwhile the system dropped 10 cm (under four inches) of snow between Saskatoon and Rosetown, 4.5 cm (over 1.5 inches) in North Battleford area, and further south about five cm (almost 2 inches).

In Environment Canada’s records, the most snow seen in Prince Albert on that day in history is 25 cm (nine inches) in 1955.

By early afternoon on Sunday, all “travel not recommended” warnings were taken down on Highway Hotline’s website, however it detailed numerous winter conditions around Prince Albert that could make travel a challenge.

Cold weather ahead

“Unfortunately, now colder air will move in and we are stuck for the next five days with quite cold weather,” Gerlyand said. “We expect to be 10 C to 15 C below normal and will remain for the rest of the week.”

Normal temperatures for this time in November are highs between -5 C and lows of -42 C. Prince Albert is expected to get to a high of -21 C on Thursday.

The quick change in temperatures and snow drop left the province’s highways dangerous for driving.

– With files from paNOW’s Kelly Malone

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk