Tornado #5 of 2016 Confirmed

Video of Saskatchewan's 5th confirmed tornado of 2016 near Estevan yesterday July 7.

#abstorm More Small Hail In Large Amounts Today - #mbstorm Landspout Tornadoes

Copious amounts of moisture across the southern prairies today combined with high temperatures will combine to mix in a little of everything, or lot of little things. Yesterday reports out of Okatoks, Alberta showed huge amounts of small hail covering the highways as snow plows had to be called in for what is quite a normal major hail event for the foothills as summer storm season hits its prime time of late June (pictures and tweets below). More of the same is forecast for today with an added bonus of a possibility of landspout tornadoes in southern Manitoba, especially in the Red River Valley. Strong pulse storms will begin early in the day with some becoming near supercellular size in areas south and east of Red Deer Alberta. Southern Saskatchewan could also see some storms reach severe levels with hail and heavy rain as the main factors. Here is a forecast map as drawn up at 7am: This map may be updated as needed later this afternoon. Photos and tweets from yesterday's amazing hail storms in the southern Alberta foothills:

How about that hail yesterday?! #yyc #abstorm pic.twitter.com/9bO7zuUFao

— CJAY 92 (@CJAY92) June 29, 2016

Christmas in June? Snow plow clearing hail on HWY2 South of Calgary, Alberta #abstorm @PrairieChasers pic.twitter.com/ThPYMGNiPC

— Braydon Morisseau (@BraydonMoreSo) June 29, 2016

@JimCantore Snow? Nope, just a typical hail storm south of Calgary, Alberta! #abstorm pic.twitter.com/4TIl6K1JvJ

— Michael O'Connor (@Brown825O) June 29, 2016

NWT - Storms Way Up North Today [Risk Map]

Storms way up north today. North West Territories regions under an active severe thunderstorm watch. "1:14 PM MDT Monday 27 June 2016 Severe thunderstorm watch in effect for: Hay River Region including Enterprise Conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening along the Mackenzie River and southern Great Slave Lake from Fort Simpson to Hay River. Thunderstorms are beginning to develop over the region. The thunderstorms will strengthen this afternoon, with hail to the size of quarters and damaging winds in excess of 90 km/h possible. Thunderstorms will weaken this evening." Public Weather Alerts for Canada: http://weather.gc.ca/warnings/index_e.html Here is today's Risk Map:

"Several areas to watch this afternoon.." [1pm Updated Risk Map]

Several areas to watch this afternoon for the development of severe thunderstorms. Heavy rain, flash flooding, large hail and intense lightning are the main concerns today and into the overnight. In the north, slow moving storm cells may trigger flash flooding and large hail throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Further south, mainly in south western Manitoba, a strong cold front will trigger supercells late this afternoon and move east overnight. Extreme amounts of precipitation with large hail and possible microbursts could cause localized damaging wind gusts. Very intense lightning will also be of a concern, especially near game time in Winnipeg as the CFL season kicks off there tonight. Here is the latest detailed risk map for today:

Daytime Clearing - Nighttime Derecho [Saturday's Risk Map]

With clear skies expected across the prairies on Saturday, daytime heating will to lead to severe weather developing overnight and into Sunday. Strong damaging winds and heavy rain with flash flooding are the main concerns. The situation may in fact become a "derecho" type event.
(A derecho (pronounced similar to "deh-REY-cho" in English, or pronounced phonetically as " ") is a widespread, long-lived wind storm. Derechos are associated with bands of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms variously known as bow echoes, squall lines, or quasi-linear convective systems.) Source: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.htm
Along the international border, storms are expected to be strongest and move east at a minimum of 80km/hr. It will move so fast that the storm system will start up in Montana Saturday night and end up in northern Ontario on Sunday morning. Since these powerful type of systems can cause widespread damage with gusts of between 100 and 120km/hr, areas near or around the main storm system will be affected. Heavy rains with supercell thunderstorms will precede the damaging wind event. Tornadoes and large hail are also possible ahead of the squall line.
Here is the latest graphic from the GFS storm model showing midnight Saturday's Supercell Composite Index:
As you can see in this second snip, the strongest areas of strength move all the way into northern Ontario by noon Sunday, only 12 hours after the first graphic, seen above.

Our preliminary risk map, outlining the area of most concern for Saturday night: