A look back at southern Saskatchewan's wicked, wintry wallop in 2022
In October 2022, a pattern reversal across North America allowed the season’s first Colorado low to develop and target the eastern Prairies with significant snowfall, resulting in widespread road closures and power outages.
After Alberta saw its first notable snowfall of the autumn on Monday, it might be helpful to look to the past to see other examples of fall storms that brought even more heaps of the white stuff.
On Oct. 23, 2022, southern Saskatchewan was on the receiving end of a potent Colorado low, which delivered a snowy wallop to the region.
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Parts of the region ended up receiving 10-20+ cm of snow in the hardest-hit areas through Monday, Oct. 24.
Several roads and highways were closed across Saskatchewan on that day, including the Trans-Canada Highway from Regina through Moose Jaw, Sask., which remained closed on the morning of Oct. 24, as well. That occurred as ice and snow covered the roads, along with blustery winds, which created near-zero visibility for drivers.
Heavy snow caused numerous traffic problems in southern Saskatchewan on Oct. 23, 2022.
The Moose Jaw Police Service released a warning on that Sunday, urging drivers to check the highway hotline before heading out.
Thousands of customers were still without power on the Monday morning following the storm, with the majority of the outages reported in Moose Jaw and surrounding areas.
Heavy snow caused dangerous road conditions in southern Saskatchewan on Oct. 23, 2022.
Colorado lows, which are systems that form over the Rockies near Colorado and track into parts of Western and Eastern Canada, are a mainstay of weather forecasts around this time of the year. The energetic systems often pester Canadians with foul weather as they move through.
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