ESTEVAN — Funnel clouds are not an unusual sight for the southeast.
However, to see the tornado forerunners near Estevan in October is "very rare", confirmed Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, on Thursday.
Jane Howard took a picture of funnel clouds on Oct. 4 at around 4 p.m. on the outskirts of Estevan. At the time, she was on Highway 47 north of town, and clouds were to the west. When the picture was taken, it was raining and cool, Howard said, "and then like a light switch it was sunny and warm about 10 minutes later."
"Both of those clouds look like funnel clouds for sure," said Lang. "Good catch by whoever took the picture. And certainly, it is unusual at this time of year. We're usually out of that time when we do get this type of weather."
She noted that southeast Saskatchewan experienced a weather system coming from northern Alberta in the middle of the week, which promoted the unusual-for-the-season natural phenomenon.
"It's the first weather system that's more typical of the fall that we've seen," Lang said.
Several areas in Saskatchewan also reported hail, small and big, during the last days of September and into early October. Lang said bigger and more extended hail is unusual for this time of the year as well, but smaller hail is normal.
"This weekend [Sept. 30-Oct. 1], we had a complex weather system that came up from the United States and it still had a lot of warm air with it. We saw some really warm temperatures [for the season] in southeastern Saskatchewan and in southern Manitoba, really high humidities for this time of year. So, I think that that's the reason why we saw the storms that we did," Lang said.
However, she pointed out that while high temperatures are often associated with storms, heat is not an absolute requirement for that kind of weather.
"A lot of the storms that we saw on the weekend, especially in southern Saskatchewan, they came in the overnight period and morning periods when the temperatures weren't high. So that speaks to the fact that you don't need hot weather to produce thunderstorms. You need the atmosphere to be able to support thunderstorms. There's a whole bunch of things that go into it. But the number one thing that it needs is the right type of energy," Lang explained.
The weather system that resulted in hailstorms in the area moved into northwestern Ontario by Oct. 3, and Lang said while it's possible, they don't expect to see any more thunderstorms in the near future.
"I'd be really surprised if we did," Lang said.
"The fact that we got funnel clouds this late in the season is really unusual, but for us to get back into that same pattern again [is highly unlikely]. We're losing daylight every single day, that means we're losing the warmth."
Unusually warm temperatures, expected for Thanksgiving weekend, might result in some odd weather again.
