Parts of southwestern Saskatchewan awoke this morning to a blanket of snow.

Cypress Hills has received the most with about seven to nine centimetres while Swift Current obtained four and a half centimetres.

The snow is expected to transform into rainfall this afternoon for much of the southwest except for Cypress Hills, which are still under a snowfall warning.

"Cypress Hills is getting hit because of their higher elevation," said Environment and Climate Change Canada Meteorologist Terri Lang. "So far they've had 12.1 millimetres of precipitation over the last two days."

highway 21_cypresshills_may2Highway 21 near Cypress Hills as of noon on Thursday. (Photo courtesy of AM Delivery)

The Swift Current Research and Development Centre has recorded a half inch or 12.5 millimetres of precipitation since Monday, five millimetres of snowfall and seven and a half millimetres of rainfall.

Snowfall in May is somewhat common for Swift Current with May 19, 2022, being the last time it happened with 2.8 centimetres falling. According to Swift Current Research and Development Centre data dating back to 1885, it's snowed in 53 of the 139 May's. Over the 139 years, there have been 128 occurrences of snow in May. 

"Usually the rule of thumb on the prairies (for planting flowers) is the May long weekend just because of the risk of frost up until then," she said. 

Highway conditions in the southwest appear mostly unaffected by the precipitation. Highway 4 south of Wymark to the US border is listed as winter conditions and the same classification is used for the Trans-Canada Highway from Rush Lake to Moose Jaw.