Damage caused by winds gusting up to 78 km/h in Prince Albert National Park July 1, 2023. (Submitted photo)

By Teena Monteleone

low pressure system

Extreme weather causes damage throughout north central Sask

Jul 2, 2023 | 12:34 PM

The same low pressure system that caused a tornado in Alberta, is the same weather system that spawned severe thunderstorms through parts of Saskatchewan Saturday.

Dan Fulton, a meteorologist with Environment Canada said the storms began mid-afternoon in west central Saskatchewan around the Meadow Lake and Battleford areas with golf ball sized hail and winds gusting to about 100 kilometres per hour.

“And then they pushed into Prince Albert and the Prince Albert National Park area with a little lower wind gusts at about 78 kilometres per hour,” Fulton said.

The wind was enough to cause damage within the Red Deer campground at Waskesiu where downed trees could be seen leaning across trailers and the roads.

Damage at Red Deer campground at Waskesiu, July 1, 2023. (Submitted photo)

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Several trees were knocked over in Red Deer campground at Waskesiu, July 1, 2023. (Submitted photo)

Fulton said the storm strengthened again as it pushed east of Prince Albert into the Nipawin area where winds of 119 km/h were registered.

“We received lots of reports of trees down and power outages and minor structural damage like shingles off of roofs,” he said.

The Nipawin Evergreen Golf Course announced on its Facebook page that it would be closed Sunday to clear several trees that had been knocked over throughout the course.

Uprooted trees in Nipawin Regional Park. (Susan McNeil/paNOW staff)

The damage caused by the storm across parts of Saskatchewan was nothing in comparison to what a tornado in central Alberta left in its wake on Canada Day.

The deputy mayor of Carstairs said they were lucky no one was killed after a big twister plowed through the area Saturday afternoon.

People embrace after a tornado damaged homes near Carstairs, Alta., Saturday, July 1, 2023. No injuries were reported. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

Dean Allan said the tornado passed between his town and neighbouring Didsbury, destroying at least 12 homes. He said some livestock was also lost, but“all in all, everything went well, or as good as can be for something like that.”

Impressive images of the shelf cloud that formed prior to the storm in Saskatchewan were posted on social media Saturday. Shelf clouds can stretch for miles and may look like the edges are reaching toward the ground. Fulton said while they appear ominous, an approaching shelf cloud is generally just a sign that strong wind is imminent, followed by rain or hail – not necessarily a tornado.

“When it’s a roll cloud or a shelf cloud, you’re not gonna get a tornado under it because there’s a lot of cold under it,” he explained.

“It may be 30 degrees above, but way up high in the storm where the precipitation is being made, its quite a bit below zero. So that super cool water is forming hail stones and it doesn’t matter what the temperature is on the ground, you can get hail storms because high up its quite a bit below zero.”

A shelf cloud passed over Warman July 1 on its way north, bringing with it damaging winds. (Submitted photo/Katherine Broker)

Heading into the remainder of the long weekend, Fulton said Saskatchewan will see much cooler temperatures with a cold front moving through. It will also remain quite windy as we deal with remnants of that low pressure system that has now moved towards Manitoba.

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teena.monteleone@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertNOW