REGINA -- We’ve been hoping and begging for some precipitation in southern Saskatchewan over the last few months. Most of the region has been under extreme fire danger for the spring, with widespread drought conditions in the southeast corner. And, I’m happy to finally say, precipitation is on the way to southern Saskatchewan as we make our way towards the long weekend.

We knew this would happen, colloquially everyone knows that weather on the weekend that marks the unofficial start of summer is always a bit of an up and down. So, if we were going to get rain at some point in May… it would be this weekend after a record-breaking warm start to the week in the province.

Though I should also mention, looking at the last few years, temperatures did stay around seasonal for most of the May long weekend. So it’s not always raining and cold, just this year.

But don’t worry too much, temperatures are headed back up towards normal on Monday. However, today and tomorrow, temperatures are going to be well below seasonal. With highs in the single digits, about 15 degrees below our seasonal high for this time of year (which is 19.7 degrees Celsius in Regina).

The weather maker when it comes to the incoming precipitation is a low-pressure system that formed over the Pacific Northwest and is tracking just south of the United States border. This is pushing a trough into southern Saskatchewan that will continue to intensify through to the start of the weekend.

The biggest issue with this system is the rain-snow boundary because most communities will see temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, particularly overnight. This means that there is a likelihood most areas will see some wet snow mixed in at some point as this storm moves through.

Generally, it looks like it will be mainly snow through the southwest corner of the province, with rain to the southeast. In the middle and a bit further north, there is the potential for a wintry mix or some freezing rain.

Because of the impending snow, a snowfall warning was issued by Environment Canada on Wednesday afternoon for the southwest corner of the province, where the system will bring heavy snowfall. Higher elevations could see up to 25 centimetres over the next 48 hours.

As for the rain in the southeast, it will continue to fall through to Saturday morning with totals looking to range from 30 to 50 millimetres in the Regina region. Now, if Regina sees close to the top end of that, it will be close to the average precipitation Regina sees for all of May, which is typically around 47.5 millimetres of rain based on the 1981-2010 Canadian climate normals.

Either way, get your rain catchers ready and get excited about some rain! I know that many people in the province are happier with this forecast than the 30 degree temperatures that started the week.