A violent storm blew through the Estevan area, on its way through southeast Saskatchewan, on July 7. Environment Canada described the storm as Saskatchewan's fifth tornado of the season.
According to environment Canada, the storm involved a funnel cloud touching down on Thursday morning, just outside of the Town of Bienfait, for about five minutes, along with a great deal of rain and hail. Hail was reported, in some cases, to be dime-sized.
"A couple of different people said they saw one forming, and it came down and went up, without touching down," said Dena Bachorcik, assistant administrator for the Town of Bienfait. "There was a lot of rain of that came out of those clouds, and a lot of hail. Most of it was pea-sized, but some of it was dime-sized."
Bachorcik noted that there was no damage done locally, and that all the towns operations are working well. She noted that a storm of such intensity isn't somthing often seen in Bienfait.
"We get some bad weather, heavy winds and hail, but not tornados, per se," she said. "Nothing usally touches down."
Check out Wednesday's edition of the Mercury, and the website for the full story, with more details.
