Saskatchewan’s southeast has yet again been battered by severe weather — the latest wave of storm activity involving a potentially severe tornado.
Numerous posts to social media Tuesday evening captured what appeared to be a significant supercell tornado near the community of Oxbow, located around 240 kilometres southeast of Regina.
Footage submitted to CTV News captured what appeared to be a cone-shaped cloud forming. A separate video depicts what appears to be a tornado touching down.
Early Wednesday morning, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) confirmed it was investigating a reported tornado that touched down in the North Portal, Oxbow, and Alameda area.
A red-level tornado warning was issued for the area Tuesday evening.
The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), which collaborates with ECCC in tracking tornado activity across Canada, said Wednesday that it was beginning its investigation of the reported tornado, as teams were already in the area investigating a tornado that reportedly touched down near Hirsh on June 7.
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Both ECCC and the Northern Tornadoes Project made reference to damage in the area, with one farm reportedly being directly hit.
“The confirmed tornado that affected the Oxbow, SK area east of Estevan unfortunately directly hit at least one farmstead and caused major damage,” the NTP said in its update.
“So far no reports of injuries, thankfully.”
The reported tornado came at the climax of an evening filled with severe weather warnings.
Golf ball-sized hail and localized flooded was reported in Regina, while the communities of Weyburn and Indian Head both reported 30 millimetres of rain.
Much of Manitoba was under tornado watches Tuesday evening while several areas, such as St. Anne and Otterburne, were issued tornado warnings.
More than 100 km/h wind gusts and torrential rainfall were also reported through southern Manitoba.
On Wednesday at 11:35 a.m., ECCC issued a special weather statement for southern Saskatchewan, with conditions favourable for the development of funnel clouds due to a low pressure system.
More details to come…
