Monday, July 17, 2017

Saskatoon Gets A Close Shave

Sunday afternoon, July 16, 2017 storm energy was high across much of the province of Saskatchewan and tornadic potential was imminent. The 7am thunderstorm outlook issued by PASPC indicated a huge area to watch for strong storms across central Saskatchewan.



By 2pm it became clear that the risk had shifted well west of the original area of east central Saskatchewan as a massive supercell cluster had become severe thunderstorm warned in the Meadow Lake region. One lonely cell appeared west of Biggar at 2:10pm in a clear area between the rain complex to the north and extreme heat in the south. Only 20 minutes later that cell exploded to nearly reach maximum heights and severe thunderstorm watches were issued shortly there after.



As the afternoon Severe Thunderstorm Outlook Map was being built at that time, Saskatoon and area was added to the Moderate Risk area in orange.


Areas north east of Yorkton indicated the highest potential for severe thunderstorms by the forecast models but ended up not panning out. Later at night a strong supercell was creeping along the US/Manitoba border, helping to verify the high risk in that area. The main event ended up being between Biggar and Saskatoon late in the afternoon as tornado watches and warnings were issued between 4 and 6 pm. There was some severe sized hail and rotation indicated by radar but luckily no tornado touchdowns. The storm structure was absolutely jaw dropping. Here are a few Tweets from this event:

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Monday, July 10, 2017

High Risk Verified - Monday Expected to Be A Big Day

A high risk for severe thunderstorms was issued early Sunday morning for western Alberta with a chance of tornadoes and extremely large hail.

 

 By 5pm one tornado was confirmed and reports of tennis ball sized hail were included in multiple tornado warnings throughout the evening, from Rocky Mountain House to Drumheller, Alberta.

Storm continue to maintain maximum strength late overnight and by 11:30pm cells began to quickly pop up in western Saskatchewan. Here is an image grab of echo tops radar and lightning at that time:

 
  

 A day 2 moderate risk was issues in the early afternoon and that is expected to be expanded by morning for most areas of southern Saskatchewan on Monday afternoon. Extremely large hail with damaging wind gusts and tornadoes. Link to PASPC Current Outlook



 Many storm chasers are committed to converge on the area, such as the world record holder for tornado intercepts Roger Hill and his Silver Lining tour company. Also world famous storm chaser, Reed Timmer tweeted this:
We will continue to monitor this situation closely and posts will be frequent on our Facebook page.
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Thursday, July 06, 2017

Destructive Tornadic Storms - July 5, 2017

The day started off very early with morning convection just north of Regina which brought intense lightning and pea size hail to the area from 5:30am to 7am. I managed to snap a few photos and videos as it passed by.

This was as the sun rose at 5:30am looking north east from downtown Regina:





It actually began to gain strength at 6am when I started shooting this video from my deck:



After a couple hours and a report of pea size hail east of the city, it died out. Then we waited with great anticipation for what was to become the main event later in the afternoon. At 4:33pm clouds began to twirl and spin by, showing the incredible instability that was in the atmosphere mixing with extremely high CAPEs (Convective Available Potential Energy). This video was shot off my back deck (time-lapse 32x speed), facing south east:



Echo Tops radar began to show the progression of the birth of tornadic supercells at 5:50pm from Dauphin, Manitoba to Carlyle, Saskatchewan:


Within only a few minutes, what was only a few blips on radar suddenly became severe warned thunderstorms. Image from 6:20pm:


The first of many tornado warnings was issued near the radar site of Foxwarren, Manitoba:

"8:18 PM CDT Wednesday 05 July 2017
Tornado warning in effect for: Prairie View Mun. incl. Bird Tail Creek Res. R.M. of Yellowhead incl. Shoal Lake and Elphinstone Rossburn Mun. incl. Waywayseecappo Res.
.."


By 7:30pm SST (8:30 CDT or Manitoba Time) echo tops indicated a fully formed tornadic supercell covering the area along the southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan border:


By 8:24pm SST (9:24 CDT) there were 4 active tornado warnings in Manitoba and 1 in Saskatchewan. The one in Saskatchewan would prove to be the main producer on the extreme south west corner of the supercell. Greg Johnson tweeted out this photo at 8:57pm SST (9:57 CDT):



Later in the evening and the next morning reports rolled in with hail the size of baseballs and damage to a house near Alida, Saskatchewan:






Finally, Dan Lindsey and Atmospheric Scientist from NOAA/NESDIS tweeted out an incredible image from the newly launched GOES16 Satellite, dubbed as the future of weather observation and forecasting. This is the new high resolution animated satellite image of tornadic supercell over southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan:



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Monday, July 03, 2017

Extreme Heat Wave - Moderate Risk

July 3, 2017 Severe Weather Outlook Map #ModerateRisk #skstorm #SlightRisk #abstorm #mbstorm Strong early morning thunderstorms in north-western Saskatchewan are expected to expand and intensify south-eastward this afternoon and evening. Very large hail up to 4cm in diameter with damaging wind gusts will be the main feature to watch. Flash flooding, very intense lightning as well as a chance of tornadoes will also be a concern to be prepared for. If tornadoes form, they may become strong with very organized right turning storm cells. Here is the outlook map and current lightning as of 9:30am:




Heat warnings continue in Alberta and are expected to expand into Saskatchewan later this week. High temperatures forecast for today:
Medicine Hat 33C
Lethbridge 30C
Swift Current 32C
Regina 32C
Saskatoon 30C
By the end of the week those temperatures will feel cool compared to what is forecast.
Saturday forecast highs:
Medicine Hat 38C
Lethbridge 36C
Swift Current 36C
Regina 34C
Saskatoon 34C


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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Facebook Plugin Added

You can now see our Facebook Page without leaving the blog. This may be useful for reading tweets in the sidebar and keeping up with discussion on Facebook during busy storm days. This is just in the development stage at the moment but a new layout and dedicated page for this may be created in the near future. For now, bookmark this page and test it out. The current layout is most ideal for viewing on large screen (TV or computer monitor). Feedback is always encouraged and most appreciated. Please use the Facebook page for all comments and suggestions. Thank you.


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