SOUTHEAST SASKATCHEWAN — For the second time in July, a tornado warning was issued for southeast Saskatchewan, but much like the last one, no tornado was spotted or confirmed.
Brad Vrolijk, a lead forecaster with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told SaskToday the agency has not received a report of a tornado touching down from the July 25 storm, but it was late at night and a lot of the activity for this particular storm took place after sunset.
"We issued the tornado warning because on radar, the storm was starting to show many signs that we look for with tornadic thunderstorms," said Vrolijk. "There was about 20-40 minutes where it looked capable of producing a tornado."
Environment Canada is still looking for reports associated with the storm, but as of the early afternoon of July 26, the agency hasn't received much information of what happened as the storm moved through the region.
The storm eventually moved into Manitoba, and reports of strong winds have come in from the province, but Vrolijk said the storm was at its strongest in southeast Saskatchewan.
"It started off late in the evening, and then shortly after sunset, it started to ramp up and get going intensely," Vrolijk said. "It had about 40 minutes where it looked like a pretty serious thunderstorm. It was showing a lot of rotation on radar, very tight and strong rotation, which is something we look for."
Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for many southeast RMs during the evening, with Environment Canada calling it a "dangerous" storm. The storm also changed its behaviour as it trekked through the region. Vrolijk pointed out it tracked eastward for quite a while, but when the storm started to tighten up, it shifted southeast, which he said is a good indicator that this is a serious storm with the potential for a tornado.
The warning was issued at 8:40 p.m. for the RMs of Moose Creek, Reciprocity, Enniskillen and Mount Pleasant. Then it was in effect for Argyle and Storthoaks. The last tornado warning for the RM of Storthoaks was lifted at 9:31 p.m.
Vrolijk said the storm went between the towns and villages, which is part of the reason there weren't any initial reports associated with the system.
The warning noted the potential for baseball-sized hail, but Vrolijk said Environment Canada hasn't received such information. It has heard of golf ball-sized hail during the day.
"I've seen a lot of thunderstorms, and this one was definitely capable of producing large hail but we don't know how big it was yet," said Vrolijk.
