lightning

When thunder roars, GO INDOORS!

Environment Canada – During the summer in Canada, lightning strikes on average every three seconds. Besides causing power outages and forest fires, lightning strikes can also seriously injure or kill. The Canadian lightning Danger Map displays high-risk lightning areas in red. These maps are updated at an interval of 10 minutes and are based on

two men in a storm-damage crop

Weather damage hints at new normal under climate change

After western Manitoba has been battered by storm 
after storm, residents say they’re convinced

Kendon Campbell was only half a mile from home when the storm hit his Reston-area farm, but he and wife Shirley were stranded as torrents of water flooded their road and drowned four of their cows. It was the third flash flood the Campbells have experienced this year. “I’ve lived here my whole life, and


Severe versus air mass thunderstorms

So far in our look at severe thunderstorms we’ve looked at the three main severe weather threats: heavy rain, hail, and wind or tornadoes. What we haven’t discussed or looked at is why do some thunderstorms become severe while others do not, and how can you tell if a thunderstorm moving towards you is going

Expect more heavy summer rainfalls

When we think about severe summer weather we almost always think of damaging winds and hail. While these two features can result in severe damage, the kind of damage is often highly localized. One thing about severe summer weather that we tend not to think about, until it creeps up on us, is heavy or


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.

Starting to understand tornadoes

This week we’ll continue our look at severe thunderstorms, and specifically, the most deadly part: tornadoes. What are tornadoes and how do they form? A classic definition of a tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground, which may or may not be visible as a funnel


Severe summer weather: Wind

With the return of summer-like heat last week we also saw the return of severe summer weather. Plenty of thunderstorms rumbled across the Prairies, bringing examples of all of the different types of severe weather we can expect to see. There was plenty of lightning, hail, some really strong winds, heavy rains and, last but

Thunderstorms and hail

I find it kind of interesting, and maybe a little weird, that in the last issue I indicated that this issue would be about thunderstorms and hail, and then during the last week areas around Winnipeg experienced thunderstorms with hail — I even had some at my place. I think this week I should end


Monitoring thunderstorm movement

Storms can strengthen or weaken as they move. Use online and visual tools to track their movements


In the last issue we continued our look at thunderstorms and severe summer weather by examining the direction thunderstorms move. In this issue we’ll learn how to determine the strength of a thunderstorm. Pretty much any storm can produce severe weather. If there are severe thunderstorm watches or warnings out, and you see a storm

Looking at severe summer weather

Usually around this time of the year my mind turns to summer and summer weather. In particular, I start to think about thunderstorms and severe summer weather. This year, with the summer-in-March weather pattern, we saw some really early thunderstorms, but with the cooler April weather pattern things have settled down. Now, I don’t want