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Tornado chaser expects severe weather in S.E. Saskatchewan

Severe weather is expected to occur on the Canadian prairies this summer and Greg Johnson, Regina tornado chaser, says we are not prepared. Johnson has seen his fair share of storms and severe weather.

Severe weather is expected to occur on the Canadian prairies this summer and Greg Johnson, Regina tornado chaser, says we are not prepared.

Johnson has seen his fair share of storms and severe weather. Being a full-time tornado chaser means that he has been witness to storms throughout Canada and the United States. Johnson's first tornado experience was actually in the Carlyle area, an experience that spurred his interest in field. The last two or three years, Johnson has become serious about tornado chasing as a career, having sold his photography business in order to pursue this new career.

His tornado chasing excursions have allowed him to be witness to a range of storms including those that have only threatened, to those that have created widespread disasters. Most recently, Johnson experienced the aftermath of the Joplin, MO tornado. The destruction caused by severe weather can be devastating.

Johnson expects severe weather to be wide-spread throughout the prairies this year due to weather patterns. "This was a La Nina year. This past winter we experienced the strongest La Nina year since the 50s. There was always a bit of a correlation between a La Nina and El Nino and severe weather. The relationship is much stronger in La Nina years than El Nino years. Given that this has been one of our strongest La Nina years, there was a lot of expectations that there was going to be specific weather patterns that would happen. And one of those would be that there would be a lot of severe weather in terms of tornadoes and flooding."

"In the southeast United States, it has been the worst tornado year on record and the deadliest tornado year on record. Worst tornado year ever. The other thing that is a fairly strong correlation between La Nina and tornadoes, is that there would be tornadoes in the southeast [US] and later on in the season, there would be movement to the northwest tip of tornado alley [south-eastern Saskatchewan]. So now we are in the later part of the season and we are expecting to see some significant weather over the next couple of weeks. Whether we will or not, we don't know. There is no crystal ball. But we are expecting to see it."

Johnson says that in comparison to the United States, Canada is just not prepared for severe weather. "Our measures are inadequate, like 1950s type of inadequate. Number one is Environment Canada. Great people, but completely underfunded and the technologies they are using are not up to standards as they are in the United States. The area that we have two weather stations in the Prairies, that same geographic area in the United States would have 71 weather stations. There are just not enough meteorologists on the ground doing their thing in Canada."

"Second thing is on preparedness. In the United States, the national weather service or storm prediction centre puts out a graphical representation of where the risk areas are. Environment Canada doesn't. They put it in text form."

"Number three is that Environment Canada has a policy where they provide the information about severe weather on a "call basis". So if you want information on what is going to be happening, you have to call them. In the US, they have a push system where they push that information out to the public and the media. If there is going to be a tornado, they break into television and radio programming. Season finale of American Idol with five minutes left and there is a tornado warning in your area, your screen goes black, there is a siren sound and then they give you the warning. Here, it won't happen."

"The other thing is that the national weather service has embraced social media. We spoke to a lady that spent the night in a storm cellar while a tornado went over her house. And she knew about it because she received a text message on her phone from the national weather service saying tornado warning for your area, get underground. The next thing that happened was her town storm sirens started going."

Johnson continued that "it's not Environment Canada's responsibility for individual towns or cities to have storm warnings, it is up to the local community. But the problem is that most communities don't have any warning system put in place. And you are lucky if you are going to get 10 minutes warning. Our preparedness is just not there."

Brent Stillwell, Emergency Measures Coordinator for Carlyle, says that Carlyle does not have anything in place in terms of tornado warning systems. "As far as I know the siren was decommissioned when they went to the 911 system and the firefighters went to the beeper system."

While the community does not have a storm siren or warning system in place, Stillwell states that "the first thing you want to do is keep your eye on the weather. Your first line of defence is your own. The way the EMO (Emergency Measures Office) looks at it, is more of an after-the-fact type of thing. Especially in the case of a tornado, because there's not really much you can do before due to the little warning that comes along with these things."

In addition, Stillwell has included some educational resources for residents in the most recent town of Carlyle newsletter. He recommends taking a look at the 72-hour preparedness guide that is available at the town office or that can be obtained at www.getprepared.ca in order to prepare yourself and your family for severe weather.

Additionally, the town has a Municipal Emergency Plan in an effort to deal with these severe weather emergencies. The community has an agreement with the radio station 1280am CJSL to broadcast emergency information during times of an emergency. Additionally, the town council has agreements with neighbouring communities if the circumstance arose that the town needed to be evacuated.

Johnson confirmed that there are a number of things that people can do to prepare for the storm season. For those more concerned about the possibility of Prairie tornados, you can buy a weather radio and tune into the weather radio channel. From there, you will get those warnings and watches. While that would be ideal, Johnson states that the number of individuals he knows that own a weather station are few and far between.

In short of that, Johnson recommends paying attention to the media. "When you do hear a watch or a warning or you look outdoors and see a dark cloud or something unusual, stay indoors. When you are in a particularly dangerous situation, get to the basement or at least to a solid interior room, the smallest room in the house is the best."

Luckily for those in south-eastern Saskatchewan, there is an additional source of information. With a local tornado chaser in the area who believes in the importance of education, awareness and communication, south-eastern Saskatchewan is privileged to an additional media source. Johnson posts all of his "tornado hunting" experiences on his website and blog. So if there is a tornado in the area, it is highly likely that Johnson will be blogging about it. And all it takes is the click of a button to see where the hunter himself is. Visit Johnson's website for more information at www.tornadohunter.ca or follow him on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/canadogreg.