Saskatchewan is in the middle of the summer storm season and there’s one storm chaser who’s in the thick of it all.
Saskatoon-based Ricky Forbes is the star of the show Tornado Hunters, and he chases some of the wildest storms across North America.
“Spring and summer, my life revolves around chasing down these storms and these tornadoes and then the rest of the year I speak at schools and businesses talking about those storms,” Forbes said. “It’s a lot of fun. I love storm chasing.”
While Forbes enjoys the thrill of the chase, he does it more so for the safety.
“These are some of the wildest storms on the planet that we are going after,” he said.
“When you are right beside these storms there is a lot of adrenaline but that’s not really why we are there. We are there reporting on these storms, calling them in to the community these storms are around so they can get to safety as well as documenting these storms.”
And for many people in Saskatchewan, it may seem like there are a lot more storms this year than previous. That’s because there is.
Sort of.
As of July 25, Saskatchewan has had 18 tornadoes. Throughout the entirety of 2021, Saskatchewan had only six.
“For the last couple of years and especially last year, we’ve had hotter and drier than normal conditions in the province in addition to smoke,” meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, Sara Hoffman said. “Those three things combined have really put a damper on severe storms.”
But while there has been a sharp increase in tornadoes from last year to now, it is right on average for historical Saskatchewan summers.
“The average that we see every year of tornadoes in Saskatchewan is about 17,” she said.
Last July, Saskatchewan had no tornadoes reported. The last time that occurred was 1959.
In 2021, dry conditions didn’t allow for much moisture, a key ingredient in both thunderstorms and tornadoes.
“Cold air wants to sink and warm air wants to rise,” Hoffman said. “That leads to a lot of turbulent mixing, and we call that atmospheric instability. A lot of atmospheric instability will lead to the formation of tornadoes.”
As Saskatchewan heads into the second half of summer, she expects more extreme storms to continue as we move into a heat wave across the province.
Both Forbes and Hoffman want to remind people to be cautious in any storm situation, watch out for warnings in your area, and in the case of a tornado, find shelter and go to the lowest point.