Over the weekend, southeast Saskatchewan saw high winds and blowing snow, which reduced visibility to near zero at times on some highways in the area. In the less than ideal conditions, crews from the provincial Ministry of Highways were out evaluating the condition of the highways and issuing advisories and updates.

“We do live in Saskatchewan, and conditions can change rapidly,” explained Steve Shaheen with the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure. “We can’t be everywhere at once, but they do update as those conditions change.”

The goal for the province is to keep the highway conditions updated at least three times a day: at 8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. They also strive to keep the hotline updated whenever there are changes to the conditions.

On Monday, when winds were whipping up snow across the region, visibility was reduced in some areas to as little as 50 metres. In the near whiteout conditions, some people took to social media to post updates and asked why travel was still allowed on the highways.

Shaheen explained there are set criteria the province uses before issuing a travel not recommended advisory.

“Travel not recommended is when visibility is less than 200 metres, and/or the surface is icy, and/or the highway is doubtful and may be blocked,” stated Shaheen. “Those are sort of the criteria we would use, primarily the visibility factor.”

The visibility on Monday was reduced to the point travel not recommended advisories were issued by the province for many areas in the southeast. As the extreme winds died down, the conditions on the highways were upgraded on the highway hotline.

You can always stay up to date with the latest highway conditions by clicking on our Road Report.