Nipawin fire crews were called to deal with a number of downed trees on Sunday. (Nipawin Fire/Facebook)

By Cam Lee

Wind wreaks havoc

Severe wind gusts lead to downed trees, power issues

Jun 17, 2024 | 4:58 PM

A wet, windy weekend for much of the province led to some communities cleaning up the damage.

In Nipawin, the fire department was first called out Sunday afternoon after a tree fell on a power line. Crews responded to five other weather-related incidents that day, most that required them to use a chainsaw to clear downed trees.

More downed trees in Nipawin. (Nipawin Fire/Facebook)

Terri Lang of Environment and Climate Change Canada told northeastNOW many of the strongest wind gusts on Sunday were in the east-central part of the province.

Nipawin experienced the highest wind gusts in the region at 83 km/h, followed by Hudson Bay at 80, and Melfort and Pilger at 72. Yorkton’s top gust was 76, while Carlyle in the province’s southeast experienced a gust of 110 km/h.

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SaskPower reported outages on Sunday in areas northeast of Mistatim, southwest of Nipawin, rural areas east of Hudson Bay, west of Sylvania, Red Earth, Shoal Lake, and rural areas south of Humboldt.

Spokesperson Joel Cherry confirmed to northeastNOW that all of the outages were weather-related.

Lang said when the gusts get that high, tree branches often break and can fall onto power lines.

“If you’re further north up in the trees, those types of things can actually start forest fires as well,” said Lang. Thankfully, the wetter conditions have prevented that from happening so far.

Despite the windy conditions over the weekend, Lang said the evidence shows this spring, on average, has been only slightly windier than normal in the Melfort area.

According to Lang, “2024 does not make the top 10 for windiest (springs on record).”

Conditions should improve this week, with sunshine and warmer temperatures in store. However, Lang said the instability will remain, with some spotty showers or thunderstorms still possible for the rest of the week.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @northeastNOW_SK