Friday, September 08, 2017

Strange Series Of Extreme Events

As summer storm season shifts to the calm warm days of "Second Summer in September", here in Saskatchewan the weather is becoming uneventful and maybe even a little bit boring. Elsewhere it seems, extreme events have become the norm just in this past week. Let's go back a couple weeks when the first unusual event occurred on a large scale.

Monday, August 21, 2017
Solar Eclipse Crosses North America

Video from CNN on YouTube:
"The first solar eclipse to travel across the United States in 99 years began in Oregon and ended in South Carolina."



Monday, August 28, 2017
Hurricane Harvey Sits Over Houston Dropping Record Rains

From Twitter:


Saturday, September 2, 2017
Nuclear Explosion Triggered 6.3m Earthquake In North Korea

From EuroNews on YouTube:
"Japan says the two shallow earthquakes which shook North Korea on Sunday were a nuclear explosion, following the sixth atomic test by Pyongyang since 2006."



Monday, September 4, 2017
Meteor and Fireball in British Columbia

From YouTube:


Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Hurricane Irma Begins To Destroy Islands

From YouTube:
Hurricane Irma became one of the most powerful storms ever as a category 5 with sustained surface winds of 160 knots/184mph/296km/hr.


Thursday, September 7, 2017
Once In A Decade Solar Storm

From SpaceWeather.com:
"A CME has just hit Earth's magnetic field (Sept.7th at ~2300 UT). This is the debris from Wednesday's decade-class X9 solar flare. It arrived earlier than expected, confirming that the storm cloud is both fast and potent."

Friday, September 8, 2017
Strongest Earthquake (8.1m) Since 1985 Hits Mexico

From YouTube:
Just off the south west coast of the Mexican state of Chiapas late Friday night, the death toll is already rising beyond 50 according to some reports.


If all that wasn't enough, forecast models have now confirmed the worst case scenario for the track of Hurricane Irma as it gathers strength over the hottest waters off the northern coast of Cuba. It is expected to make a direct hit on the entire state of Florida this weekend.

Links:
Current Earthquake map from USGS

Latest Updates from the National Hurricane Center 
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Storm Season Wrap Up/Outlook Map Slideshow

Re-posted from Facebook September 5th:

This is a slideshow of the progression of our "Severe Weather Outlook Map" this year. Starting out on May 31, you can see how we squared of the image for Facebook and massively updated the banner. June and July proved once again to be the peak months as August busted big time when a strong hurricane season became apparent. PASPC continued to make maps beyond July 31 until September 4 but it was mostly marginal storms. With extreme drought and heat in southern Saskatchewan, most of the action was confined to the Alberta foothills and central Saskatchewan this year. As another major hurricane begins to take over the news this week, we are reminded how we are all connected by the weather. Calm winds and southern heat are going to make for a second summer here in September as is often the case during very active hurricane years. Stay safe and enjoy the weather. For those who choose to move off the coast, away from the dangerous oceans, we have a lot of space and you are always welcome to move here or just visit. Thanks again for great year everyone!

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Friday, July 21, 2017

July 21 Tornado Fest In Saskatchewan

Here is a quick post of as many tornadoes as reported via Twitter and Facebook. I expect much more will filter in over the next 24 hours and I will add them here. Peter Quinlan has a few more tornado videos on his timeline and you can check them out at this link: https://twitter.com/PQuinlanGlobal

Foam Lake





Leroy






Fishing Lake





Wapella







North of Lanigan




Two more in eastern Saskatchewan, waiting for location confirmation (one was the Wapella tornado).









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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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