April storms are not unusual. Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang says, “April storms are very par for the course for Saskatchewan and everyone always seems surprised when it happens, but it happens every year.”

The southeast close to the Manitoba border got the most rain, and further north, there was more snow, with a mix of snow and rain in between. Environment Canada doesn’t measure snow, but from volunteer measurements reported to Environment Canada, Holbein had 46.7 millimetres total with 27.9 centimetres of snow and in Prince Albert, there were 36.3 millimetres of rain and 19 centimetres of snow. Lang’s measurements from her deck in Saskatoon were 20 centimetres of snow, but she adds that it was also melting in the beginning, which would alter that amount. The city wasn’t originally forecast to get much precipitation, but Lang explains that cities tend to be snow traps.

She adds that spring storms are difficult to pinpoint for precipitation because one degree in temperature can make all the difference from whether it falls as rain or snow. March and April and in the fall is typically when the storms with the largest amount of snow happen. Usually in the winter, there will be smaller snowfall amounts. Lang explains that in the spring and fall there is warm, moist air coming straight from the Gulf of Mexico, which causes the larger amounts of precipitation in the form of rain and snow.