Play by Play Commentary on Local and International Weather Events Documentation and Relay Alerts of Severe Weather Events from Regina, Saskatchewan.
The Source Since 2002
Environment Canada has just confirmed the first blizzard of the the season for southern Alberta today. A major snow storm system is crossing the prairies bringing heavy snow, high winds and cold temperatures from north west Alberta, it is forecast to cross into southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan tonight. Monday and Tuesday the heavy snow will affect southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Fog and freezing rain ahead of the storm front has made highway travel extremely dangerous and this situation will only get worse with 10 to 20cm of snow (possibly above 30cm in some areas) with above 60km/hr winds and temperatures near -20C (windchills will be below -30C).
Currently the Trans Canada Highway is closed between Mortlach and Chaplin, Saskatchewan.
Check the Highways Hotline before any travel of just STAY OFF THE HIGHWAYS: http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/road-conditions
Near Maymont yesterday due to thick fog a 20 car crash injured 40 people and sent 13 to hospital. CTV Saskatoon
The Storm Prediction Center in the United States has issued a PSD watch including a high risk for severe weather over a large area of north eastern USA. If in the area prepare for a tornado emergency especially this afternoon. Links to weather data, watches and warnings can be found on the SPC site (please do not flood the site if you are NOT in the danger area!) or follow storm chaser reports in real time in the side bar of this site (best way to conserve bandwidth and avoid emergency service sites from crashing).
Snip of the current Echo Tops shows a giant storm over south east Saskatchewan, moving north east very quickly and still growing!
11pm Tuesday, September 17, 2013
"Big storm moving north from Montana might be knocking the power out for Weyburn/Estevan areas overnight. Just saw a 83mph wind reports from NWS in Dawson County. Other high wind reports of 74 to 67mph wind gusts over the past 2 hours. That is extremely high! Echo tops are showing this a very powerful storm heading north east into south east Saskatchewan at the moment. Get your candles and flash lights ready if you are in that area!" This situation is currently developing into what should be the last major thunderstorm event of the year on the Canadian Prairies. This will be mainly a rain event for south east Saskatchewan into southern Manitoba with the strongest storms happening just south of the US border on Wednesday afternoon. The risk for severe weather is only slight but it is worth keeping an eye on the weather and staying prepared.
Now very hot and humid in the city of Regina and clouds are clearing to the south west. As of 3:30pm we have what looks like a storm cell showing up at the highest level on satellite but not as yet showing up on radar or echo tops. I have a wedding to attend this weekend so updates will be very sparse after this. Stay safe and heed all Environment Canada warnings.
A powerful storm system is emerging over south east Saskatchewan according to forecast models and will begin to affect areas early Friday, possibly late tonight and gain strength through the day. This system is expected to cross much of southern Saskatchewan on Friday afternoon, then rebuild after sunset, back building over areas seeded with moisture from the first set of storms. It is expected that two supercells will emerge with one breaking to the north east and another splitting into multicells straight east into Manitoba. The risk for tornadoes is very low on Friday but can not be ruled out given the moderately strong wind shear. Tornadoes are more likely on Saturday in the southern lake country of Manitoba and increasing into Northern Ontario on Sunday. This is a potentially dangerous situation that could cause wide spread damage to trees and power lines. The main focus will be on strong gust front type storms and flash flooding. Please pay close attention to the weather and take all warnings from Environment Canada seriously.
