Three people are dead following a fatal crash near Swift Current on Tuesday.

A northbound car and a southbound SUV collided around 3:30 p.m. on Highway 4, near the intersection of Highway 363, about six kilometers south of Swift Current, according to an RCMP news release.

It was determined that the 41-year-old female driver of the car and the two passengers, a 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old, died at the scene. Police said they were all from the Swift Current area.

The adult male driver of the SUV was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The highway, which was closed to traffic after the accident, was reopened.

“As this investigation is in its preliminary stages, we cannot confirm whether the collision was weather-related,” police said in a statement Tuesday. “However, officers in the area reported poor visibility and roads were slippery.”

The weather conditions in the province have been causing problems for vehicles and traffic for the last two days.

First snowfall of the season in the province

Snow fell in parts of southern Saskatchewan Tuesday and Wednesday morning. This resulted in reduced visibility, traffic problems and travel warnings.

“We could see snowfall amounts of two to five centimetres, or even 15 to 20 centimetres, as the first snowfall of the season,” said Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Stephen Berg.

“This is a low pressure system coming down from southern Alberta into Montana, but on the back side (Cypress Hills Interstate Park) we were getting quite a lot of snow.”

About 10 to 15 centimeters or more of snow fell in Cypress Hills. Some snow also fell in Regina and surrounding areas.

Berg said southwestern and southern Saskatchewan received up to two centimeters of snow.

These conditions are not set to continue. Berg said the snow should not stick as temperatures will be higher in the coming forecast.

Temperatures even above 10 C can be expected in Saskatchewan from Thursday through Saturday, which is above average for this time of year.

As for the rest of the winter, Berg predicted the weather won’t stay warm for long.

“As this winter approaches, there will be a weak to moderate La Niña, which is the opposite of the El Niño phenomenon,” Berg said.

“This generally gives us a cooler, snowier winter. But since the weather is weak to moderate, it may not be as pronounced as last year’s El Niño, which was a fairly strong event.”