Tornado touched down Tuesday

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This article was published 28/06/2023 (868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Parts of southern Manitoba were hit by a tornado, torrential rain and hail as a large storm lingered while passing through Tuesday night.

Natalie Hasell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said while some Brandon motorists were finding some intersections and streets inundated, other residents saw little on their lawns.

“We have reports there of almost nothing, but the highest report was 52.6 millilitres,” Hasell said Wednesday.

“A farmer in MacGregor said they received 4.5 inches — that’s 114 mL. But that looks reasonable, looking at radar. A few storms sit over an area for up to an hour and a half. That gives the storm a lot of time to drop a lot.”

Hasell said a tornado that touched down between Neepawa and Gladstone was confirmed, and the weather service is receiving reports of golf ball-sized hail around MacGregor and strong straight line winds.

She said the weather agency put out other tornado warnings in the rural municipalities of North Norfolk, Rosedale and Mossey River, but they don’t know yet whether there was any damage there.

There was a thunderstorm warning in Winnipeg on Tuesday evening, but Hasell said while some parts of the city saw precipitation, other areas didn’t.

“Thunderstorms can be super dark and blot out the sun, but they are actually quite small,” she said. “They can hit one part of the city or a municipality while other areas don’t get it.”

Hasell said southeastern Manitoba was also hit by rain, with Piney getting 19.1 mL.

A tornado watch was in effect for Winnipeg and other parts of southern Manitoba on Wednesday afternoon.

“Conditions are favourable for the development of funnel clouds and weak tornadoes in southern Manitoba this afternoon,” Environment and Climate Change Canada said in an online statement posted at 11:48 a.m.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca