Tornado warnings ended in southern Saskatchewan

Tornado warnings that were in effect for parts of southern Saskatchewan have been lifted.

However, Environment Canada still has severe thunderstorm warnings and watches in place for areas around Carlyle, Oxbow, Carnduff, Bienfait and Stoughton.

A photo of a funnel captured in southern Saskatchewan on Sept. 2. It was one of many reports that prompted Environment Canada to issue a tornado warning at about 5:30 p.m. that day.(Bailey Fleck)

Just after 8 p.m., the weather service said it was “tracking a severe thunderstorm capable of producing quarter-sized hail.” The storm was located about 10 kilometres north of Lampman and was moving toward the southeast at 40 kilometres per hour.

Environment Canada issued the tornado warning for areas around Fort Qu’Appelle, Indian Head, Lumsden and Pilot Butte after numerous reports of a funnel cloud at 5:30 p.m.

Les Welsh was watching television at his home in Craven when he saw the cloud.

“I grabbed a camera, grabbed a picture from inside, ran to the back door, got my shoes on, went out to the edge of the road and just started taking pictures and a bit of video,” Welsh said.

“It started coming down a little bit but then it went back up eventually.”

Les Welsh was watching television in Craven when he saw this funnel cloud on Sept. 2. (Les Welsh)

Tornado warning in YQR. Watching this huge cloud formation east. #tornadowarning #skstorm #reginaweather #StormHour #extremeweather pic.twitter.com/XJcYFRmLnT

— Garces&Garces (@garces__garces) September 3, 2019

Mike McDonald, a meteorologist from Environment Canada, said the funnel cloud might have touched down briefly but no damage had been reported.

Welsh said he had not seen a funnel cloud in 11 years so the sight of this one got his heart pumping with a bit of worry.

“It’s kind of exciting,” he said. “I’m one who likes to take photos and stuff. But I also realize the danger of a tornado because if it does come down … where’s it going to go? Is it going to hit somebody’s farm? Is it going to destroy somebody’s crop?”

Conditions changed quickly, Welsh said, with sunny skies appearing after about half an hour of seeing the cloud.

The severity of storms is affected by time of day, according to McDonald.

“Once the sun goes down, we lose some of the daytime heating (so) the energy for these storms will also diminish,” he said.

McDonald said it’s not too late in the year to see severe weather like this.

“It starts to get into longer nights and cooler days so you don’t have the energy that you have in July or August. Certainly not uncommon to get thunderstorms in early September around here,” he said.