It was a weekend of heat and thunder, but one that also lacked much for rain in southern Manitoba. 

Scott Kehler is President and Chief Scientist with Weatherlogics Inc. He says the lack of storms this weekend can be attributed to the lack of wind. 

Kehler explains we saw a really hot and humid air mass underneath an upper-level ridge of high pressure. But, Kehler says there was very little wind at the ground and aloft. As a result, the hot, humid air began to rise into storms. However, because those storms were not being directed anywhere, they just sat in one particular area. 

"That gave us locally heavy rain of these nearly stationary storms that were parked over a location," says Kehler. "But for other people who were just outside of the area that had the storm, they didn't end up seeing anything at all."

Without that jet stream aloft, Kehler says there was very little potential for severe weather over the weekend. He notes it is the jet stream and the strong winds interacting with the storms that can organize them into more severe structures. But, what happened instead is almost like bubbles in a boiling pot of water. Kehler explains the hot and humid air near the ground would rise up, hit the top of the atmosphere and spread out. 

"But because there was no wind to organize the storm, as soon as all of that energy went up to the top of the atmosphere, it came back down and collapsed on itself," he adds.

The end result was short-lived storms. 

"The main threat with any storms was just heavy rain," he adds. "There was occasional hail here or there, little gusty winds, but really nothing damaging."

Kehler says the next few days should bring similar weather to what we experienced over the weekend. He explains the ridge of high pressure is expected to remain stalled over the eastern prairies for most of this week. Kehler says the early to mid-part of the week will likely remain hot and humid, but with little jet stream aloft to keep these weather systems moving, there will probably be a risk of storms on most days. However, they will continue to be very isolated in nature.

Kehler adds with storms of this nature, there is no way to predict rainfall amounts in advance. 

"If you are hoping for rain this week, there is really no way to know where exactly the storms are going to end up being located," he says. "But at least you know that there is a chance one could form in your area."

Towards the end of the week, Kehler says it looks like a cold front will move through which should see temperatures drop back to normal, which would be highs in the low to mid-20s.

Meanwhile, Kehler says with the lack of a jet stream, the tornado risk these days is pretty low. He notes though you can never rule one out, the lack of strong winds in the upper atmosphere to organize these storms, means the probability of any kind of strong tornado is virtually nil. 

Rain along Highway 75 Saturday evening.Rain along Highway 75 Saturday evening.

Manitoba Agriculture is reporting these rain amounts for the following communities in southeastern Manitoba on Sunday:

  • Elma - 25 mm
  • Richer - 24.6 mm
  • Rosa - 24.1 mm
  • Marchand - 20.3 mm
  • Zhoda - 12.9 mm
  • Vivian - 9.3 mm
  • Stead - 9.0 mm
  • Dominion City - 2.5 mm
  • Sprague - 2.1 mm
  • Lac du Bonnet - 1.7 mm
  • St. Adolphe - 1.4 mm
  • Gardenton - 1.2 mm
  • Prawda - 1.2 mm
  • Menisino - 1.1 mm
  • St. Labre - 1.0 mm
  • Steinbach - .6 mm
  • St. Pierre - .3 mm

Meanwhile, Environment Canada is reporting that a number of locations in our province broke temperature records on Saturday, including:

Dominion City 
New record of 33.5 
Old record of 33.3 set in 1968 
Records in this area have been kept since 1942 

Emerson 
New record of 33.5 
Old record of 33.3 set in 1968 
Records in this area have been kept since 1893 

Fisher Branch 
New record of 32.7 
Old record of 31.1 set in 1961 
Records in this area have been kept since 1960 

Norway House
New record of 31.6 
Old record of 27.4 set in 1991 
Records in this area have been kept since 1970 

Pinawa 
New record of 32.1 
Old record of 30.5 set in 1988 
Records in this area have been kept since 1915 

Pine Falls 
New record of 30.6 
Old record of 30.0 set in 1988 
Records in this area have been kept since 1922 

Winnipeg 
New record of 33.2 
Old record of 32.8 set in 1968 
Records in this area have been kept since 1872