While Prince Albert hasn't broken any snowfall records yet, this winter has more than double the average snow depth. (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Tons of Snow

Snow depth in Prince Albert this winter more than double average

Feb 1, 2022 | 11:00 AM

If it’s felt like an unusually snowy winter in Prince Albert, that’s because it has been. While Environment Canada no longer measures snowfall directly, there are two stations measuring overall snow depth, and both are showing well above 30-year averages.

“One is sitting around 49 centimeters and one is sitting around 44 centimeters of snow,” said Environment Canada regional meteorologist Terri Lang. “If you compare that to 30-year averages when we used to measure snow and what snow depth used to be, the average is about 20 centimeters for the end of January. That indicates the snow is piling up.”

According to Lang, the snow hasn’t dissipated the way it has in other years either. Evaporation hasn’t removed much snow, nor has sublimation, which is when solid snow goes straight from snow to water vapor and doesn’t melt in between.

“It’s nowhere near a record amount of precipitation for the month of January,” Lang said. “A lot more than average. I don’t like to use the term normal because there’s nothing normal about weather, especially on the prairies.”

“It’ll be around for a few days,” said Lang. “Certainly not a big, long cold snap as we tend to call them but extreme cold warnings are likely for the next few days. It is going to try to warm up on the weekend to probably still running below seasonal values.”

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Last year, February was when winter hit the hardest with extreme cold warnings throughout the month. This year, there have already been several stretches of bitterly cold weather, including right around Christmas and New Year. So, are we out of the woods yet?

“We know, based on even just last year, what can happen in the month of February,” said Lang. “We can get into these deep freezes, especially with it being a La Nina winter, we can get these cold months. We’re not seeing any major cold outbreaks for the next ten days or so, but never say never.”

Lang added that while it will warm up over the weekend, and get even warmer by the start of next week, we’re not likely to get warm enough for this snow to melt away any time soon.

Related to the snowfall, the City of Prince Albert has put out a parking ban as of 9:00 this morning for all snow route streets. Parking is now prohibited on these routes, which are marked by signs. According to the city, these bans typically last 48 hours unless continued snowfall requires them to be declared again.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP