Many Saskatoon-area residents made a trip to the basement May 18 when two tornados touched down near the city.
Tornados in cool spring weather are a rarity and several of them in the central grain belt during May is historic in weather terms.
A tornado touchdown was reported near Melfort, Sask., two weeks ago.
Another two hit the ground west of Saskatoon May 18.
The third twister landed on a farm 12 kilometres west of Saskatoon, demolishing five buildings.
The Melfort storm crossed a farm near the town and tossed cattle feeders, overturned grain bins and wrecked a line of fence.
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SGI, the province’s insurance company, said it has received 30 reports of damage from the Saskatoon area storm.
“It came from a cool unstable air mass combined with light moisture. There may have been some daytime heating as well … . We’re still looking into what happened,” said Bob Cormier of Environment Canada.
“These things don’t last very long and then they’re gone. They extend to the ground and burn out very quickly this time of year. Except that this time of year they seldom ever reach the ground … . It was a bit of an anomaly.”
Winds of 95 km-h were recorded at the Saskatoon airport and 50 millimetres of rain fell “in a very short time period,” soaking already saturated farmland.
Central Saskatchewan has received an average of 98.5 mm of rain as of May 21, nearly four times the seasonal norm.
