The Next Big One: Winter Storm "Nemo"

As the northern wing of "Winter Storm Nemo" hits Regina, Saskatchewan, one forecast model is suggesting up to 60 inches of snow for Boston beginning on Friday! So far, "Winter Storm Nemo" has dumped nearly 3 flakes of snow in Regina, much less than the originally forecast 2 to 6 cm. Seriously though, radar indicates that a few more flake will fall here tonight. It sounds a bit silly to be trying to warn people about an impeding disaster when The Weather Channel names the storm after a Disney character. Naming storms after Disney characters seems to be a guaranteed fail for storm enthusiasts. #Nemo Alternatively, storms could be named by way of auctioning to prospective companies and the funds collected given to residents affected. Not to replace government disaster assistance funding but to immediately lend relief #StormNamingAuction For example (with a bit of tongue and cheek): "Tropical Storm McDonald's 100% Pure Beef is going to hit but everyone gets free cheeseburgers after :D Save all of that for the next storm because this is a serious situation setting up for the east coast Friday and Saturday. One model suggests 50 inches of snow for Boston and anywhere between Toronto, Montreal and Boston will see this massive system come together. The Alberta clipper currently over southern Saskatchewan is expected to merge with another system from the south to drop record amounts of snow over Michigan, southern Ontario, Quebec, New England and New Brunswick. The city of New York and parts south should miss the bulk of snowfall as precipitation turns to rain. Naming this winter storm "Nemo" has certainly got people talking about it, which is a good thing, however it may change the way we think of poor little Nemo forever, some may wish they never did find Nemo. :p Jared Mysko

Regina Snowstorm - January 10-11, 2013

Here a playlist of video footage of the snowstorm that hit Regina this week: Heavy snowfall warnings were upgraded to winter storm warnings for Regina and both Moose Jaw and Winnipeg got Blizzard Warnings on January 10th as it became clear that a major storm was beginning to affect the prairie provinces. After a foot or 30cm of snow fell, not including totals much higher in drifts, extreme temperatures dropped to -29C on Saturday, January 12 with the windchill reaching -40C in the city of Regina.

Saskatchewan Road Conditions

With already several snow storms affecting southern Saskatchewan in November, today the temperature got up to +3 degrees Celsius. It was a nice break and some of the snow packed roads began to melt but only just enough to prepare the ground for another thick layer. Wind warnings have just been issued for the City of Regina as gust of up to 90km/hr will sweep over the city as another heavy band of precipitation dumps over us once again. It was a weekly event in November and December seems to be bringing much of the same. Please stay safe when walking the icy side walks and use extreme caution on city side roads. Main routes are relatively clear except during snowfall. If planning to risk it and try out the deadly Saskatchewan winter highways, please check with the Highway Hotline first. They have a great interactive map of Saskatchewan highways updated in real time, available for mobile as well as desktop.

Saskatchewan Highway Hotline Links:
http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/road-conditions/

Map Report of Road Conditions (High Bandwidth)

Photo courtesy of Saskatoon's The Bull Radio Station and the Mark Michaels Show from Highway #2 this afternoon!

YouTube Channel Updated

Added some new features including the "Store" where you can purchase music and merchandise as well as a new video playlist called "For Lightning Lovers". All on my YouTube channel which has now reached over 570 thousand views! Thank you! http://www.youtube.com/user/saskatoonscanner

Hurricane Leslie Heading For Nova Scotia

Tropical storm Leslie has upgraded to hurricane strength in the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to track towards Nova Scotia. Landfall is expected on Monday, September 10th maintaining a category 2 hurricane status. Another tropical storm, Michael has formed further east and looks to move in the same general direction and possibly combine with Hurricane Leslie. This situation will need to be closely monitored, check the USA's National Hurricane Center for updates as well as Canadian Hurricane Centre for more on this.

The weather on the Canadian Prairies has very much cooled off as harvest season is fully under way. Rain and thunder showers are expected today over western Saskatchewan but no major amounts expected. Farmers are hoping for it to stay dry enough to get the crops off on time and so far it seems things are going well. According to the latest crop report by Agriculture Saskatchewan, harvest is well ahead of the 5 year average and the weather is expected to stay fairly dry into next week.

- Jared Mysko