There is one word to describe the year of weather in the Battlefords and across Saskatchewan in 2020: 鈥淗eavy.鈥�
There was heavy rain, and also heavy snow at various times in the year. The biggest rain event took place on July 7 and 8, when upwards of six and a half inches of rain fell on North Battleford.
A special meeting of council was called so the city could apply for provincial disaster assistance funding to address the damage and flooding that rain event caused. Battleford also voted to apply for Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP) funding and both applications were soon approved by the province.
The town of Unity also applied for PDAP funding due to the July 8 rain. Meanwhile, the town of Macklin had to apply for PDAP funding after major damage from another event: a wind and hail storm in early August that blew down trees and caused widespread property and roof damage.
It was also a year of major floods, particular in the North of Saskatchewan, due to the heavy rains seen in June and July. Ranchers north of Meadow Lake reported being hit hard in early July, while other parts of the North were reporting the worst flooding in 45 years.
In November, it was extreme weather of a different kind that smashed Saskatchewan: heavy snow. A weekend blizzard that extended into municipal Election Day on Nov. 9 buried much of Saskatchewan under 30-50 cm of snow and brought out numerous 鈥渢ravel not recommended warnings.鈥� The storm brought out comparisons to the infamous 鈥渂lizzard of 2007鈥� that also buried the province.
The blizzard created such havoc on the roads that it ended up cancelling the Battlefords North Stars鈥� home opener with Kindersley that weekend due to bad travel conditions.
There was so much snow to clean up afterwards that several communities ended up postponing their municipal elections. Saskatoon鈥檚 municipal vote was delayed from Nov. 9 to 13, while Swift Current鈥檚 vote was delayed to Nov. 12.
Fortunately for the Battlefords, we weren鈥檛 quite as hard hit as Saskatoon was, but they still had to deal with a major dumping of snow. Crews were able to clear away enough snow for the local elections to go ahead on schedule, but their efforts didn鈥檛 stop on that date.
North Battleford crews were out on the roads clearing snow right through Nov. 11, pausing only during the 11 a.m. hour to remember those who had served before resuming their snow clearing duties.
