The first day of fall seemed more like the first day of winter in the Prairies as temperatures plummeted and snow fell.

People from across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta snapped pictures of the mini-snowpocalypse on Saturday.



The snowfall amounts were so significant that they toppled trees and took out power lines in parts of Manitoba, forcing some residents to spend the night in the dark.

And we had snow out here in the western part of the province yesterday. You should check the news once in a while. This pic was taken near Austin yesterday. That’s snow in the picture. In Manitoba. Before the hour of the equinox last night. pic.twitter.com/p408TWEsof — Kerri of the North (@KerrioftheNorth) September 23, 2018

Visiting in Carbery Manitoba lots of potatoes t dig yet here 4 in Of snow on rail pic.twitter.com/spP4OVUpMP — Leonard Waldner (@Gleaners77) September 23, 2018

#mboutage We require an emergency outage for customers in the rural area of Blumenort today to replace a pole. Outage will be a few hours. Please be safe today while driving. pic.twitter.com/5oGzzYpwvP — Manitoba Hydro (@manitobahydro) September 23, 2018

In Saskatchewan, the wintry weather led to several collisions. A semi-truck jackknifed onto its side near Kenaston, just south of Saskatoon, Sask., as snow and ice caked Highway 11. Meanwhile, two cars collided just south of Lumsden.

Lumsden resident Cherie Kowalyshyn told CTV Regina that it felt more like the first day of winter than the first day of fall.

“I'm pretty sure I've never had to have mitts on the first day of fall,” she said.

6 inches of wet snow, cars, vans, trucks, and campers hitting the ditch. But hold on the Saskatchewan department of highways is out cruising around with no snow plow. Met 4 of them yesterday. WTF #snow #Harvest18 pic.twitter.com/4TcfMGAF3w — Dwight Pomedli (@DPomedli) September 23, 2018

Elfros Saskatchewan, lots of snow, 60% done 4000 acres of canola and oats to go. pic.twitter.com/wFvxMsFQIb — Dwight Pomedli (@DPomedli) September 23, 2018

The early snowfall put a damper on Lumsden’s annual Brechin Scarecrow Festival, leading to the cancellation of the market and hayride.

Bill King, president of the Lumsden museum and festival committee member, called the weather “a downer.”

“It's an outdoor event so we really count on having good weather,” King said.

Similarly wintry weather prevented produce vendors in Edmonton’s city market from selling all of their fruits and vegetables. Temperatures in the city were near the freezing mark Saturday.

Vendor Conrad Lutz was among those whose sales suffered. “We just (didn’t) get all that kind of traffic that would come because it’s a nice day out,” he said. “We kind of missed those sales.”



The cold temperatures aren’t expected to stay. Edmonton, Saskatoon and Portage La Prairie are all expected to hit double-digits on Monday.

With files from CTV Regina’s Cole Davenport and CTV Edmonton