Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued a tornado warning Tuesday afternoon. However, its their ongoing investigation reports the stormy weather might have resulted in funnel clouds.
“We had two reports of funnel clouds yesterday in Saskatchewan, one near Quill Lake the other one near Saltcoats,” explained meteorologist Terri Lang of ECCC.
“We’re looking for evidence that either of them touched down and so far we haven’t heard any evidence of that yet, but there is a crew going out there to investigate so that at this time we’re not calling them tornadoes.”
Examination of tornadoes is based on the damage left behind and if there is no damage present, then the tornado does not receive a rating, added Lang.
“The way tornadoes are rated are based on the damage that they do, not how big they are, that’s a big misconception,” she said.
“They think the bigger the tornado, the stronger it was and that’s not necessarily the case. Think about the case of a figure skater, that’s twirling. If she wants to twirl faster she’ll bring her arms inside and close to her, if she wants to slow down she’ll actually put her arms out, the biggest tornadoes aren’t always the strongest.”
Although no buildings or homes in the community of Saltcoats were damaged, farms outside of the community were impacted by snapped branches and toppled trees.
The stormy weather conditions are normal due to the time of the year. Lang said June is a peak time for severe summer weather and windstorms. Funnel clouds are also commonplace.
“We’re starting with summer severe weather season, it goes through usually until early September,” Lang explained.
“For the last couple of years it was dry, warm, smoky, so we didn’t see much in terms of severe weather in the last couple years, but this year is sort of shaping up to be closer to what we should expect for spring into summer.”
Laurie Murray lives about 10 minutes outside of Saltcoats and was able to capture the funnel clouds with her camera.
“It just caught my eye and I thought, I’m far away enough, I’m not nervous anymore, and I was glad I stopped and had my cameras with me,” she told CTV News smiling.
Murray was driving from her home to get an oil change for her vehicle where she quickly noticed the rotating clouds in the sky.
“It was instinct I guess,” Murray said while explaining why she stopped. “I was a little bit ways away that if I had to turn around and move then I could, but something like that a person gets really hooked on it, you’re going to try to take all the photos you can.”
As a precaution, ECCC recommends people cover their vehicles to avoid any hail damage during storms.
Additionally, the service suggests people to seek shelter inside a sturdy building at the lowest level possible, or in a closet, during both windstorms and tornadoes.
