Two tornadoes logged in Manitoba Tuesday

At least two tornadoes touched down in Manitoba Tuesday as an extreme weather system belted the southern region.

The severe thunderstorm brought with it strong winds, rain, hail and the twisters, said Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Carlsen.

“This is the first set of tornado reports we’ve had here in Manitoba this year,” he said.

The tornadoes were confirmed south of Carman, roughly 80 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg,

On Tuesday afternoon, red warnings — indicating very dangerous or life-threatening weather — were in place for several Manitoba communities including Miami, Graysville, Carman and Homewood.

Carlsen said Environment Canada uses pictures and reports that have been sent to the national forecaster from reliable stormchasers on the ground, and two tornadoes were logged. They are under investigation and no injuries were initially reported.

Brent Owen, the mayor of Carman, said elected officials were monitoring the situation as the storm rumbled.

“There’s not much you can do about the weather,” he said. “But I’ve been in electronic contact with our council and we were all aware of the tornado warnings, just in case something did go sideways on us, so that we were somewhat prepared.”

In Brandon, the storm brought heavy rain and hail and briefly disrupted power at the Brandon hospital and the downtown mall.

Prairie Mountain Health communications co-ordinator Blaine Kraushaar said the outage lasted for 25 minutes but backup systems were activated

Kraushaar said PMH had not received reports of similar outages at any other health-care facilities in the region.

Justin Oertel, founder and lead weather forecaster at the Weather Centre of Manitoba, said while Brandon escaped significant damage, some areas experienced more severe conditions.

“Other than some small hail in Brandon and torrential downpours of rain leading to some minor flash flooding, the damage has been minimal,” he said.

“Further southeast of the Westman region toward Baldur, there was a report of golf ball- to tennis-ball-sized hail earlier this afternoon,” Oertel said.

Oertel said the storm system was typical for this time of year, when the severe weather season begins across the province.

“(Monday) was the start of meteorological summer, which begins our three-month period here in Manitoba where we record the most tornadoes and severe weather occurrences throughout the year,” he told the Brandon Sun.

He said a strong trough moving through the Prairies, combined with a cold front, created favourable conditions for thunderstorm development.

Carlson said on average, Manitoba gets about nine tornadoes during the summer, but noted that number is likely going to climb in the coming years as more reports get posted to social media.

He said as the extreme weather season settles in, it’s important for residents to keep track of Environment Canada alerts and warnings and be aware of quickly changing weather.

“Keeping an eye to the sky is the No. 1 way of telling whether or not you’ve got some severe weather coming in,” he said. “You can see in the clouds; when they’re looking mean, usually that means something mean is on the way.”

During extreme weather, he said the most important thing to do is get inside and put “as many walls as possible” between you and the extreme conditions.

Owen said while he’s glad the worst of the weather missed Carman, the wet conditions are welcome.

“Nobody ever looks forward to a natural disaster, but the rain is much-needed for the farmers, for the trees … and it takes the wildfire risk away as well.”

He said councillors regularly remind members of the community to be vigilant.

“Monitor the situation. Be safe and take cover if you need,” he said.

— with files from the Brandon Sun

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca