Potential tornado, grapefruit sized hail ravages southern Manitoba

Environment Canada has yet to confirm whether a tornado touched down in Beausejour Wednesday night. 

A Tornado Warning was issued for Beausejour and the surrounding area just after 7 pm. The Town of Beausejour said on Facebook there was an unconfirmed sighting of a tornado in the southeast corner of the town.

Area residents took to Facebook to share about the storm, with many saying there was extensive damage throughout town including toppled trees, damaged rooftops and downed power lines.

Natalie Hasell with Environment Canada says the storm is still under investigation as to whether or not it was in fact a tornado.

"Severe thunderstorms can have both tornadoes and downburst winds, sometimes at the same time, sometimes they even interact," she explains. "So, we're going to need a bit more time to get a better idea of what actually happened with the storm."

Hasell notes there were funnel clouds reported both south of Stony Mountain and at Selkirk and so there is certainly a possibility that it was a tornado that hit Beausejour.

"It is definitely within the realm of possibility," she adds. "But we will need more time to investigate what really happened there."

Environment Canada is reporting its strongest wind gusts at its observation sites were in Grandview where wind speeds hit 78 kilometres per hour (km/h) and then in Elma at 74 km/h.

In addition to the wind there was also large hail reported throughout southern Manitoba. The largest hail was found in Fisher Bay/ Fisher River, where residents say the ice chunks were grapefruit size, measuring 10 centimetres (cm) long. Here are some of the other hail reports:

• East Selkirk: baseball size (seven cm) 
• Falcon Lake: baseball size (seven cm) 
• Lockport: tennis ball size (6.4 cm) 
• St Andrews: hen egg size (five cm) 
• Selkirk: hen egg size (five cm) 
• Tyndall: golfball size (4.5 cm) 
• Garson: ping pong ball size (3.8 cm) 
• Rennie: Toonie size (2.8 cm)

Hail at Fisher River (Photo credit: Manitoba Weather Centre/Facebook)

Hasell explains Wednesday's severe weather was sparked by a few contributing factors. She notes we had a low-pressure system going through the area and associated with that was a frontal structure. Then, there was also a dry line, which separates the warm moist air from the dry air.  

"So, we tend to see a lot of thunderstorm development in those circumstances," she says. 

According to Hasell, we are not out of the woods just yet. She notes a good chunk of southern Manitoba could experience severe weather again today in the form of wind gusts to 90 km/h, nickel-sized hail and rain. Hasell says the weather should be less severe for most of the Red River Valley. She adds things should taper off by Thursday evening. 

Beginning tomorrow, Hasell says we will be into a cooler air mass with the passage of this low. This should result in cooler weather, but Hasell says there will likely still be the risk of thunderstorms, though probably less severe.