Highest Wind Speed Recorded In Province Hits 120km/h

The forecast yesterday said to expect wind speeds of up to 100km/h, and most parts of the province saw exactly that.

According to Environment and Climate Canada Meteorologist Mike Russo, while they didn't hit the same high speeds across the province, the winds gusts were not unlike what we felt in January's storm.

"The strongest wind gust we had reported was at the automatic weather station in Swift Current reported wind gusts of 120 kilometers per hour. Otherwise, the other stronger wind gusts were all in excess of 100 kilometres per hour," he said.

Here in the southeast, we clocked in wind gusts at 102 kilometre overnight, but numerous locations across the southwestern and southeastern corner of the province reporting wind gusts in excess of 90 kilometres per hour.

The storm in January brought wind gusts as hard as 110km/h, winds which literally blew the roof off of one Estevan home along with a lot of other damage.

This storm, on the other hand, didn't have quite the same severity.

"It wasn't quite as hard, but our criteria for issuing a wind warning would be an average wind speed of 70 km/h and/or a wind gust in excess of 90 km/h, so anytime you see that in a forecast, we would have a warning out for excessive winds," noted Russo.

The weather for the foreseeable future looks quite favourable as we get into the later part of the week, and that weather is slated to warm up quite dramatically. With the snow already on the ground and a bit more snow expected to fall today, there still shouldn't be much issue with roads conditions as the wind takes a hike.

"When the cold front went through overnight last night, that was the the worst of it," Russo explained. "Now that the snow has moved off into Manitoba, we're just dealing with some moderate to strong winds and without the the additional snow falling in the area, visibility should should remain relatively good."

One thing Environment Canada could us some help on this morning is snow accumulations. That automatic reporting technology is not the most reliable, and Environment Canada is looking for reports from the public to held give them a better idea of how much snow fell and where.

"We're always looking for snowfall accumulations, and if you did get any snowfall accumulations, we would appreciate if you could put those on Twitter with the hashtag #skstorm. So just put down, your location, and the amount of snow that you got over the last 24 hours and again, that will be very much appreciated."

Your full five day forecast can be found HERE.