Another big dump of snow coming Saskatchewan's way

Saskatchewan road crews and residents alike are getting ready for another icy blast of winter this weekend.

Environment Canada issued snowfall warnings on Friday for much of south and central Saskatchewan.

The weather agency says a developing low-pressure system over Montana will spread a large area of heavy snow across southern Saskatchewan Saturday.

Accumulations of 15-25 centimetres are in the forecast for many areas.

Snow is expected to begin Saturday morning near the Alberta border and reach the Manitoba border by late afternoon.

Philippe-Alain Bergeron, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says in addition to the snow, people will have to contend with moderate to strong winds and falling temperatures.

"Arctic air will be in place for several days with temperatures five to 10 degrees below normal," Bergeron said.

Temperatures of around –15 C "would be very common," he said.

Officials with the City of Saskatoon say depending on how bad it gets, they might activate an emergency plan to clear snow from local streets.

Goran Saric, Saskatoon's director of roadways, says the criteria to activate the plan include 25 centimetres of snowfall, impassable streets and light vehicles not being able to travel in the city.

If the predicted snow arrives this weekend, many of the 300 provincial government snowplows will be deployed on the highways.

The Highways Ministry is asking motorists to slow down and stay back near snowplows, which create mini blizzards when clearing highways.

"The weather patterns can change quickly, which means that the conditions of our roads can change really quickly," said Tom Lees, the ministry's assistant deputy minister of operations.

"So when you're going out on the road this winter, I would just ask that the first thing you do is check the Highway Hotline."