Environment Canada investigates possible tornado near Saltcoats

A stormy day across the province may have spawned the first tornado of the year in Saskatchewan.

Thunderstorm warnings issued Wednesday in southeastern Saskatchewan escalated into tornado warnings near Churchbridge and MacNutt.

People in Saltcoats, southeast of Yorkton, shared photos and video of a funnel cloud around 2 p.m. that some said reached the ground in a vacant farmyard northeast of the community.

“Yes, it touched down,” Laurie Murray wrote on Facebook.

Another resident, Holly Penner, said she saw it touch down as well. She said she was heading home when she was forced to stop to help clear trees and other debris from the road.

“Trees broken off around the yard laying in different directions and picked up pieces of a wall/roof of an old shed. I pulled it all into the ditch so road was clear for traffic.” she wrote online.

Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Fulton said his office has received multiple reports of funnel clouds in that area, but they’re still investigating to determine if any reached the ground.

“We’ll be looking into those to see if we can confirm anything,” said Fulton.

“Most of the action was in Manitoba, near Binscarth, just on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. That one went right through the whole province, right to south of Winnipeg. We got multiple reports of tornados off that one.”

The storm also brought hail the size of Loonies to the Yorkton area.

Fulton said there’s a chance of the province seeing more unsettled weather on Thursday, but the storms aren’t expected to be severe.

Laurie Murray said the twister near Saltcoats “was really something to see.”

While Murray said she was a little bit nervous at first, that feeling quickly went away.

“At first, when I stopped at my first corner, I was a little uneasy,” she said. “Was it going to form more or not?

“But once I parked in a different spot, I really felt easy. I wasn’t nervous or anything. I was quite calm taking the photos and I just settled right down.”

Because of her experience, Murray said she wants to continue keeping her eyes on the sky.

“I really enjoyed it. I could do that all the time,” she said. “It was lots of fun, actually.”

While she said she did not see it touch down directly, she said there was a bit of damage done to a vacant farmyard, which she believes was left in the aftermath of a tornado.

“There is wood all over the road and in the ditch and trees down in the yard,” she said. “I kind of looked at the yard on my way home, but I could not see much damage to the buildings.”

–with files from 980 CJME’s Abby Zieverink