‘Intense’ storm sweeps through central Saskatchewan

An intense storm rolled through central Saskatchewan on Wednesday, bringing lightning, tennis ball-sized hail, strong winds and a possible tornado.

The storm developed west of the Battlefords late Wednesday afternoon and tracked along the Yellowhead Highway, said Crawford Luke, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

Luke said the system was the most powerful type of thunderstorm, known as a supercell thunderstorm.

“It’s not uncommon to see these storms in the summertime in Saskatchewan, but the one last evening was particularly intense,” he said.

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Tennis ball-sized hail was reported in the Langham and Radisson areas, with some reports of hail cracking windshields. Luke said golf ball-sized hail hit the Battlefords, while Loonie-sized hail was reported in communities north of Saskatoon.

Environment Canada is also investigating a possible tornado between Cudworth and Middle Lake, he added.

One weather station in the Battlefords recorded a wind gust of 129 km/h.

“So really impressive to get that kind of wind recorded,” said Luke.

“It just kind of speaks to how intense this supercell was compared to the hundreds of others we’ll see over the summer in the province.”

Some people may not have heard thunder, he said, despite the constant lightning.“

Every lightning strike is producing a thunderclap. So, it’s almost like there’s just too many, and they kind of cancel each other out,” Luke said.

For Saskatoon resident Jared Rusch, the sky was more entertaining than his TV screen.“

My fiancée and I were sitting on the couch watching TV, and then I got a weather alert on my phone. I was like, ‘Oh, we gotta go look outside,’” he said.“

It took us like three hours to watch that one-hour episode.”