Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says it is investigating eight possible tornadoes that may have touched down across southern Saskatchewan on Thursday.
Reports range from the Saskatoon area to towns east of Estevan.
Crawford Luke, a meteorologist with ECCC, said the events are still under investigation and nothing has been officially confirmed. However, he described the scope of the reports as significant.
“To have eight tornadoes in a day would be quite substantial, I would say. Not a very common occurrence,” Luke said.
The system that triggered the storms was a sharp trough moving across the province, creating a sudden wind shift that acted as a catalyst for thunderstorms.
The storms were concentrated in a line stretching from near Saskatoon, through the Regina area and southeast to the Manitoba border, Luke said.
Luke said the suspected tornadoes include:
- One near Young, southeast of Saskatoon.
- Three near Regina in the communities of Davin, Odessa and Hubbard.
- Four in the southeast, including near Frobisher and Hirsch, east of Estevan.
Meteorologist says 8 tornadoes in 1 day would be ‘quite substantial’ if confirmed.
Luke said ECCC uses multiples sources for their investigations.
“We had a bunch of storm spotters and storm chasers posting videos and pictures to social media,” Luke said. “We sort of take what we can get. Fortunately, in this case, we have a lot of eyewitness accounts and some pretty good radar data to work with.”
The possible tornadoes on Thursday could add to an already active season. Saskatchewan has seen four confirmed tornadoes so far this year — two on June 2 near Cut Knife and two on June 13 near Coleville and Hepburn.
Luke said it’s too early to tell whether this summer will be particularly busy.
“It’s really hard to forecast that. Tornadoes are kind of tough, because you could have a day like potentially what we saw yesterday, and then that can kind of bring your numbers up for the year quite dramatically all at once.”
He added that while there’s no immediate threat of more tornadoes, the season is far from over.
“It’s still June. We still have July, August, September. So I’m sure there’s going to be more severe thunderstorm days ahead.”
Harrison Webster shared this video with CBC News and said he saw a tornado touch down near Balgonie, east of Regina, Thursday afternoon. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued several tornado warnings for parts of Saskatchewan late afternoon on June 19.
One of the most dramatic storm visuals Thursday came from Saskatoon, where a video posted on Reddit showed a powerful lightning strike downtown. Luke confirmed that the same storm complex that may have produced the tornado near Young also brought that lightning storm through the city.
“It looked like it was a prolific lightning show that went through Saskatoon,” Luke said.
Luke encouraged residents to share photos, videos or damage reports by email or online. He said those public reports are often valuable to help meteorologists confirm what happened on the ground.
He also gave advice about what to do if you find yourself in the middle of a tornado warning.
“Get to the lowest floor, most interior part of a building, and try to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible.”
‘It still doesn’t feel real’
Kayla Chamberlin and her partner, Shawn Hanofski, said they saw a tornado touch down in the yard of their rural home near Hubbard, Sask., about 170 kilometres northeast of Regina, on Thursday evening.
They said they spotted it moments before it struck their property. The couple, along with their young son Gavin, ran to the basement for safety.
“As soon as I looked up outside our bedroom window, we both said, ‘tornado,'” Chamberlin said. “You could see the tornado had been already down on the ground.”
She said they managed to get one of their cats into the basement before the winds hit. Her partner ran upstairs to close a window and saw debris flying across their yard.
“He actually saw one of our lounge chairs be picked up and thrown across to one of the trees that ended up breaking off,” she said.
Chamberlin described what she saw from her limited view hiding in the basement with her family.
“You couldn’t see really anything because it was like a whiteout. It was white and grey out the windows and you could hear things being smacked up against the house.”
Their house sustained minor damage, but the yard was torn apart. Chamberlin said they’re grateful their livestock survived and that no one was injured, but it was a frightening scene.
“My son, he was pretty upset because it’s scary. You don’t understand what’s really happening until after,” she said. “It still doesn’t honestly feel real.”
She said she had never experienced anything like it. While tornadoes aren’t unheard of in Saskatchewan, the direct impact has left them shaken, but thankful.
“Everything can be replaced. People can’t,” she said. “You really realize how lucky you are after a tragedy happens.”
Chamberlin said the outpouring of support from neighbours and the broader community has already been overwhelming.
“We’ve had an endless amount of support from everybody around the community making sure that we were OK, offering us help to clean up,” she said.
