WEATHER DISRUPTION – Prairie Weather Update

–UPDATE | Dec 30, 7:10 am —

Overnight Travel Not Recommended conditions across Saskatchewan limited operations, tightened east–west capacity, and resulted in residual delays on select Prairie lanes. While TNR conditions have since cleared, poor road conditions and milder temperatures today may create icy highways, particularly during morning and evening travel windows, which could continue to affect transit times.

Recovery efforts are underway, focusing on clearing remaining eastbound volumes while prioritizing driver safety. If these delays may impact your production schedules, inventory flow, or delivery commitments, please reach out to your account manager to discuss mitigation options or updated timing.

–UPDATE | Dec 29, 7:45 —

Following the significant winter weather impacts over the weekend, conditions across the main transportation corridors between Manitoba and Alberta began to improve late Saturday and continued through Sunday. Peak disruptions occurred Saturday with blizzard or near-blizzard conditions, poor visibility, and hazardous highway surfaces across Alberta and into Saskatchewan. Snowfall rates eased late Saturday, and by Sunday winds gradually diminished, allowing visibility to improve and most major east–west routes to remain passable under winter driving conditions rather than full closures.

Despite the improvement, conditions did not normalize immediately. Roads remained wintery with residual snow, slick patches, and extreme cold through Sunday night, particularly across open prairie sections where localized visibility changes continued to occur. As a result, while network recovery is underway, customers may still experience some variability in transit times. We recommend allowing additional buffer time for time-sensitive freight and maintaining flexibility as operations continue to stabilize across the Prairie network.

As always, please contact your Account Manager if you have any questions about your freight.

— ORIGINAL POST —

Severe winter weather continues to impact the Prairie transportation network, affecting travel conditions and recovery efforts across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Blizzard and blowing snow conditions remain widespread in Alberta, with several key corridors downgraded to Travel Not Recommended overnight due to poor visibility and drifting snow. Conditions are expected to gradually improve later today, but travel remains hazardous this morning.

Across Saskatchewan, strong northwest winds created blowing snow and reduced visibility overnight, resulting in multiple routes being placed under Travel Not Recommended. Conditions are expected to improve later this evening.

In eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba, dense fog with near-zero visibility is creating localized travel risk this morning. Visibility is expected to improve this afternoon as colder, drier air moves in. While major Manitoba highways, including sections of the Trans-Canada, have reopened, drivers should expect snow-covered surfaces, variable conditions, and reduced speeds.

To prioritize safety, 15 LCV drivers stood down or did not depart overnight due to Travel Not Recommended designations and deteriorating visibility.

Current Backlog Overview

• Eastbound: Volumes remain elevated from Alberta into Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with the largest concentrations moving Calgary and Edmonton toward Winnipeg.
• Westbound: Backlogs are primarily between Saskatchewan and Alberta, with minimal volumes pending out of Winnipeg.

Operations teams continue to actively monitor weather and highway conditions and will resume or expand movements as conditions safely allow. Further updates will be shared as conditions evolve.

 If you have any questions or need support, please reach out to your Account Manager.