Weather school: How are clouds formed?

COLLISIONS Clouds appear when atmospheric moisture condenses as droplets big enough to be visible

Last week we talked about how clouds are classified, then I said we would continue our look at clouds by examining each of the different cloud types in a little more detail, discussing just what type of weather we could normally expect with each type of cloud. We are still going to do that, but

A look at snow and super-cooled water

The water in our atmosphere has to be colder than 0 C before it’s cold enough to freeze

As we slowly work our way toward winter and several locations across the Prairies have seen snow, I thought it might be time to revisit the icy topic of snow. Instead of jumping straight into our discussion we’ll look at the process that creates precipitation in cold clouds, which, in our part of the world,


How are severe thunderstorms created?

All the ingredients can be in place, but good luck pinpointing where the storm will form

I’d said we were going to examine which weather conditions bring long-duration rainfall warnings, and also dig into some of the rainfall records from across southern and central Manitoba in this issue, but that topic will have to wait until next time. An early deadline for this issue due to the long weekend, combined with

man checking moisture content in a canola bin

Check your canola bins ASAP

The CCC says buyers are reporting a sudden surge in heated canola

Baby it’s cold outside, but your canola bins could be hot — dangerously hot. That’s why the Canola Council of Canada (CCC) wants farmers to check their bins right away. “Canola delivery points report a spike in heated canola over the past couple of weeks,” the CCC said in its Canola Watch email Nov. 28.


The ingredients of a tornado

After a fairly cool spring with few if any thunderstorms, summer has started to make headway into the Prairies over the last few weeks. In some years summers come and go with only the odd thundershower and maybe one big thunderstorm, but in other years every storm that comes along seems to bring severe weather.

More questions from readers

Hi Reena, Year after year, mildew develops along the caulking/sealant around my windows. In past years, my husband has regularly used bleach and much elbow grease to clean it. We don’t mind the normal amount of work a house takes but this is ridiculous, not to mention probably harmful to our health — both the


Record low to record highs

Sometimes the weather actually does behave just like the “textbook” says it should — and that’s what we saw late last week and into last weekend. After we discussed “Indian summer” we saw record-cold overnight lows turn into record-warm daytime highs! The warm temperatures at the end of the month made September 2012 the 16th

Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes

Since they can’t actually get inside to measure it, scientists aren’t completely sure what causes a tornado

We’ve seen a few thunderstorms over southern and central Manitoba so far this July, but most have not been very severe. That said, over the weekend, southwestern Manitoba had a tornado watch in effect and that reminded me that we need to finish our look at severe thunderstorms and in particular, tornadoes. The biggest question


Just How Humid Is It?

The Weather Vane is prepared by Daniel Bezte, a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the University of Winnipeg. Daniel has taught university-level classes in climate and weather and currently operates a computerized weather station at his home near Birds Hill Park, on 10 acres he plans to

Proper Storage Takes Planning

Apotato storage is a home, not a hospital.” That was the central theme of potato storage specialist Duane “Sarge” Preston’s recent presentation at Manitoba Potato Days. Preston, a now-retired extension specialist, told growers that getting conditions right before, during and just following harvest would trump anything they could do once the crop was put up