Spring storm brings wind, snow and rain to southwest Sask.

Much of southwestern Saskatchewanborethe brunt of an early spring storm Tuesdayaftera low pressure system broughtstrong winds, wet snow and rain.

Snow began falling in the overnight hoursbefore northwest winds picked up,causingwhiteout conditions during Tuesday's morning commute.

Environment and Climate Change Canada(ECCC) issued a wind warning for the southwest corner of the province, saying northwest winds could gust as high as 90 km/h through the day.

"High winds may toss loose objects or cause tree branches to break," the alert read.

Terri Lang, a warning preparedness meteorologist with ECCC, said forestryweather stations at the west block of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Parkand at Climax reported gusts around 100 km/h Tuesday morning. She said many of ECCC'sown weather stations were knocked offline due to power issues.

Snowfall of five to 15 centimetres is possible, with the heaviest amounts falling in the Cypress Hills area. Rain of five to 10 millimetres is also possible in the region.

Lang said places with higher elevations, like the Cypress Hills,often get more snow. This time around,northwest winds also created"upslope flow" winds forced up an elevatedsurface which enhancedthe amount of snow falling.

The Trans-Canada Highway was also closed for a period of time from the Alberta border to north of Maple Creek mid-Tuesday morning, asmotorists reported poor conditions on most roads in the area.

Outages cause water supply issues

SaskPower reported numerous outages caused by toppled lines. Power was restored in some places as of Tuesday afternoon, but was still out in many others, including Maple Creek and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.

An outageat the water treatment plant in Maple Creek prompted the town to ask residents to conserve water use. An alert put out by the town around 11:00 a.m. CST Tuesday said repair could take 24 hours at minimum.

"Without power, the water treatment plant is unable to treat water to maintain a supply," the message read.

Residents have been asked to avoid using "unnecessary, large quantities of water," such as water for dishwashers, showers and laundry.

'Things are actually totally white here'

Irene Ahner farms northeast of Maple Creek. Her homelost powerbetween 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. CST Tuesdayand had beenrunning on generator power.Shesaid visibility at her farmwas down to less than a kilometre late Tuesday morning.

"Things are actually totally white here," said Ahner.

She said that when she went to bed Monday night, there was no snow on the ground.

"After supper last night there was a great big dust storm," she said.

Ahner said the area has receivedthe odd snowfall this winter, but it wouldn't last long.

"In the last two weeks all the little piles of snow that were in trees or north slopes have all gone and it just gets warmer and warmer," she said.

Storm should ease into Wednesday

Lang said the system should lose steam heading into Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The Swift Currentarea is expected to receive the bulk of its moisture later Tuesday, but areas like Moose Jaw and Regina will be mostly spared.

Things will die down into Wednesday, said Lang.

"The flow [in the jet stream]becomes a little bit more westerly," she said. "That kind of brings more stable air, more seasonable air."

Lang said another system travelling along the northern border of the province could bring showers and wind to some regions over the weekend, but the rest of the work week should be calmer.