Regina residents were shocked when they received a tornado alert warning on their phones this past weekend. On Saturday night, local and nearby residents of Regina received an alert on shortly after 8:00 p.m.
Environment Canada said a tornado landed south of the city just before 9 p.m.
“It came up from south of the city and it seemed to continue to develop over the city,” said meteorologist Terri Lang. “Environment Canada started to receive reports of heavy rain, localized flooding, all different types and sizes of hail … the extent of the storm continued on. Lots of lightning.”
The tornado touched down at a farm south of Regina where it ripped part of the roof off along with some of the siding from a storage facility. Luckily no one and no homes on the property were not damaged.
Storm chaser Craig Boehm said this wasn’t a typical storm chase as it was so close to the city. Boehm said it was a ‘photogenic tornado’ that started with a big dust bowl that turned into a big funnel cloud that was roping through the sky.
“All day it looked like there was going to be strong storms in the province,” he said. “We drove south of the city and waited for the storm to push north to get a little close to the city. At that time, the storm started to make a right-hand turn which was a good sign for a strengthening storm.”
A radar station in Bethune was down since May 24th which made that day hard for meteorologists to get readings on activity in the sky. The radar station is expected to be fixed by June 1st.
“It certainly does hamper the severe weather forecast’s ability to forecast severe storms,” said Lang.
Environment Canada reported that the Regina airport received 17 millimetres, Mosaic Stadium had about 30 millimeters and hail sizes were from small as a dime to as large as a golf ball.
Although the sun in shining today, it won’t stay that way for long. Environment Canada said Regina and area will be getting rain showers starting on Wednesday until Saturday.
“It looks like we’re in an unsettled pattern over the next several days,” said Lang. “Looks like a chance of severe weather might be Thursday and Friday coming in from the south.”
— with files from The Canadian Press