Much of Saskatchewan woke up to winter weather Monday morning. Snow blanketed Moose Jaw, accompanied by high winds which caused swirling and drifting snow on the highways.

“We’re not getting a ton of accumulations from places, but it will sort of be slow and steady, those small flakes, so by the end, you could have six or seven centimetres by the time it tapers off on Tuesday,” explained meteorologist Terri Lang. 

The forecast from Environment Canada is calling for temperatures to hover around freezing for much of the next few days, with little prospect of the warmth needed to melt the snow that will fall. 

Lang stated you can’t necessarily assume this is the start of winter yet, though.

“It’s too early to make that call, just because if the snow cover is not extensive and deep there is still a chance that most of it could melt before the real colder temperatures set in, or before we get a heavier storm,” she added.

The temperature will be rising just above the zero mark later on in the week, with a high of +3 being called for Halloween, along with snow and possibly rain.