Southeast Saskatchewan had a tornado touchdown Wednesday afternoon.
Environment Canada received the report of the touchdown near Langbank from social media and is confirming the tornado, although it is still under investigation.
Tornado ongoing northeast of Langbank, Saskatchewan! #skstorm @706photos pic.twitter.com/yRzpIPnUqk
— Prairie Storm Chasers (@PrairieChasers) September 18, 2024
“We are collaborating with the Northern Tornado Project, and working with them on a survey of the area,” said Natalie Hasell. She is a meteorologist with Environment Canada. “People are more than welcome to share information with us if they know about the damage or anything else that might have happened.”
As the information is collected, it can be shared with the NTP to help create a more complete picture of what happened.
The tornado was part of a system coming up from Montana, with an occluded front extending into southeast Saskatchewan.
“We had lots of rotation already in the atmosphere,” Hasell explained. This, combined with humidity allowed for the atmosphere to become unstable. The structure was the main trigger for the storm activity that moved into the area.
“Then, we had the right wind sheer for severe thunderstorms to not only form but to be an environment more conducive for the formation of tornadoes.”
Hasell did note that it is rare for severe weather to develop in mid-to-late September, but it isn’t impossible despite the cooler temperatures this time of year.
“You don’t need heat, you need instability,” Hasell continued, pointing to instances where thunderstorms developed in months such as January, February, and March across the prairies.
“In this case, they were actually smaller than the typical supercell, but still had everything coming together for that particular one to at least to produce a tornado.”
The storm was likely the last one during the summer, as well, with fall officially set to begin on Sunday. Stay up to date with what could happen in the coming days by visiting the Discover Weyburn Weather page.