Wild weather caused widespread crop and property damage in southern Saskatchewan last week.
Much of the damage was attributed to July 10 storms that rocked the entire grain belt. A day earlier a wide band of hail flattened crops northwest of Swift Current.
Environment Canada meteorologist Bob Cormier confirmed three tornadoes touched down: in the Dafoe-Kandahar area near Wynyard; south of Stoughton; and near Dollard in the southwest.
The twister near Dafoe destroyed a farm home and granaries. The residents were not home at the time.
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In Yorkton, the roof of a hardware store flew off and into a car dealership, and in Carlyle, trees crashed through roofs and a greenhouse was destroyed. But Cormier said tornadoes didn’t cause the extensive damage.
“Nobody has come forward with a tornado sighting,” he said July 14. “We have a weather watcher in Carlyle who said it was just a straight line wind.”
But Cormier said plow winds can be just as strong as twisting tornado winds, which last week’s damage indicates.
The tornadoes and strong winds were the result of the right combination of warm and cold air masses.
“This particular setup was one of the better ones we’ve had,” he said.
Three strong cells developed as a result. The one that spawned the tornado near Dafoe moved along Highway 16 through Yorkton and into Manitoba.
Another went east toward Kamsack and south of Swan River, Man., and the third, bigger cell that affected Stoughton and Carlyle developed north of Weyburn.
The Dollard tornado resulted from storms in southeastern Alberta that dropped large hail on Medicine Hat.
Cormier said he has heard of significant hail in areas around Eston and Val Marie. The Dafoe storm produced hail as large as eggs.
Shawn Jaques, acting executive manager of field operations for Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp., said adjusters weren’t too busy yet, as producers wait to see if some crops bounce back. The calls that had come in right after the storms were all related to hail damage.
He said producers who decide to use their crops for grazing or to cut as feed must contact crop insurance first. If adjusters can’t get out immediately, the corporation will provide guidelines to producers on how to proceed. For example, producers who want to cut a crop for feed may have to leave a check strip for the adjuster to see.
Jaques said there have been only 520 claims so far this year.
Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms July 9 travelled from Leader along Highway 32 to Swift Current and then to the Vanguard and Gravelbourg area before weakening.
A funnel cloud was spotted north of Glenbain and winds at Swift Current were clocked at 106 km-h, but the real damage was caused by hail, some as large as golf balls.
Cormier said the hail came from a band between 20 and 30 kilometres wide.
Severe weather season is far from over although the greatest frequency is during the first part of July.
“We do tend to see less frequent storms once the crops have matured in August,” Cormier said.
Earlier this week the unstable air mass was still hanging around but Cormier didn’t expect a large system like last week’s to cause major storms.
