A Weyburn couple who was caught in a winter storm south of Weyburn on Dec. 15-16 spent the night in their car during the storm before finding a farm house the next day.

In light of this incident, the RCMP issued a reminder for drivers to be prepared for winter driving conditions.

Lise Marcotte set out from Weyburn with her boyfriend, Chris Hammann, to Torquay to have a supper with her grandparents and made a wrong turn, ending up stuck on a rural grid road south of Weyburn in the Colgate district.

She said the weather was actually clear when they left Weyburn, but the storm started to rise up when they became stuck. They left the motor running for the next six hours while they slept the night in the car wrapped in blankets, but had to turn the engine off during the night as the gas level got low.

When they didn't arrive at their destination, the Estevan RCMP were called, and family and RCMP members from Weyburn and Estevan searched for them along the route until about 3 a.m. on Saturday, and resumed the search before 9 a.m. Oilfield company employees also helped in the search.

The Civilian Air Search and Rescue Association along with members of the Weyburn Snowmobile Club were contacted to help out in the search.

On the Saturday morning Marcotte and Hammann walked about two and a half miles to the farm house of Dave and Sandy Bell, from where they made a phone call around 11 a.m. to their grandparents to let them know they were all right.

Marcotte said she had a patch of frostbite on her cheek, and Hammann had frostbite on his lower legs; otherwise they were all right.

RCMP remind travellers to be prepared when they set out to drive in winter conditions, including having extra warm clothing (like insulated coveralls or suits and insulated boots), blankets, candles and matches, shovels, tow ropes, emergency food rations and cell phones.

Also drivers are reminded that in conditions of poor visibility headlights and taillights must be turned on; automatic running lights are not bright enough, and most vehicles with running lights do not have the taillights turned on.