This image was captured near Coronach, Sask. on July 3. (Greg Johnson/TornadoHunter.ca Facebook)

By Teena Monteleone

Saskatchewan weather keeping storm chasers busy

Jul 6, 2020 | 4:56 PM

Storm chasers are anticipating a repeat performance Tuesday following tornado events in southern Saskatchewan on the weekend.

Greg Johnson with TornadoHunter.ca admits being able to actually pinpoint where a tornado might happen is still a fool’s game, but current conditions are right for severe weather, especially in the south between Herbert and Moose Jaw. Johnson anticipates areas within 100 kilometres of the Trans Canada Hwy will experience some kind of storm that includes heavy winds, some hail and plenty of lightning.

“I have as much luck figuring it out as Environment Canada does, unfortunately,” said Johnson. “But we can generally tell which days are going to produce tornados and big thunderstorms.”

Storm chaser Greg Johnson said tornadoes developed from a long track supercell that crossed southern Saskatchewan on the weekend. This shot was taken 3 miles south of Assiniboia, SK. (Greg Johnson/TornadoHunter.ca Facebook)

The severe storm signs to look out for are the ones Johnson said every farmer in Saskatchewan already knows.

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“When you wake up and its hot and humid and you have wind blowing from south or southeast – what that’s doing is funneling moisture up into Saskatchewan. And as that low pressure rolls into Saskatchewan and makes its way across the Prairies, that cold front from below mixes with that warm moist air that’s flowing up from the States and boom – we’ve got some nasty weather.”

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented Johnson and his team from travelling to the United States for their storm season in May and June. As it turned out, Canada actually ended up being far busier than the U.S. which appears to be in a tornado drought.

“This is the quietest year in history for tornados (in the United States),” said Johnson. “We’re in what we like to call a tornado recession.”

The Tornado Hunters usually sell the video and images they capture to media. A TV show they were supposed to start taping in April was postponed because of the pandemic, but Johnson said the busy storm season on the Prairies is giving them material to work with. Over the course of his career as a storm chaser, he’s found himself gathering those images in situations he said his mother would be ‘none too pleased with.’

“Listen, if I ever get the shot of the cow being blown across the sky, then I’m dropping my camera like a mic and I’m out. That’s the shot that ends the career,” Johnson laughed. “But I’ve seen trucks flying through the air and farm equipment rolling through a field. It’s kind of like the movie ‘Twister’ at times and it was certainly like that on the weekend in southern Saskatchewan.”

On Tuesday, Johnson said he’ll be storm chasing near Moose Jaw and hopes to live-stream the chase on his website and Facebook page.

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teena.monteleone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow