It's not as if winds are a new concept to the people of Estevan, but even by the standards of Southeast Saskatchewan, Wednesday, April 8 was a windy day. So much so in fact that the walls of local businesses shook and Environment Canada issued a wind warning. 

With winds almost always topping 60 kilometers per hour and with certain gusts approaching 100, Estevan recorded the highest speed winds in the usually-windy province of Saskatchewan that day. A system out of the northwest was likely responsible for that. 

"Estevan did come in with the highest wind speed yesterday, around 98 kilometers per hour," said Environment Canada regional meteorologist Terri Lang. "It actually happened because a weather system kind of backed up over northern Saskatchewan. What that did is it kind of tightened our pressure gradient. I know that's kind of verbose, but what that means is it really caused those winds to come up across all of southern Saskatchewan, most notably southeastern Saskatchewan."

According to Lang, Estevan is a windy city at the best of times because there's a subtle valley running from northwest to southeast. That means any wind from either of those directions can be especially pronounced. 

"You had the highest wind speed recorded in the province yesterday," she added. "So you get the prize." 

Estevan would no doubt be just as happy to give up that prize. Lang explained that 90 kilometer an hour winds or more is when you start to get into genuinely damaging gusts that can leave branches broken, shingles torn off roofs, and even damage vehicles with debris.

"You would most certainly try to tuck away things that could blow away," she said. "Garbage cans, recycling bins, trampolines, kid's toys, those types of things in and around your yard. Put your car in a garage if you can, just because if there's wind starting to break branches and that type of thing, your car can get damage."

Environment Canada typically issues a wind warning in the event of either sustained winds over 60 km/hr or gusts of 90 km/hr or greater. Those winds are by no means unheard of in the Southeast, especially in April because of what Lang described as "stronger systems".  

Not as strong of a system as what passed through Manitoba recently, however. As odd as it may sound, Estevan may have gotten off lightly with the 98 km/hr winds as parts of Manitoba, including Winnipeg, got hit by a blizzard.

"What happened there is what we call a snow squall," Lang explained. "Some of those rates they were getting, they were getting five centimeters in an hour. That's how heavy it was snowing. Had that been in the summer, it would've been a severe thunderstorm."

Lang added we shouldn't expect to see snow squalls in the Southeast any time soon, but we also should expect some flurries early next week. There's also no sign of weather like the 18-degree high Estevan enjoyed in late March.