Severe weather spawns funnel clouds, tornadoes and damage in Saskatchewan and Manitoba

(Featured photo includes two captures of the Saltcoats tornado from Facebook Erick James Van Caesele and Adam Wykes)

There were severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings in east central Saskatchewan on Wednesday as well as Manitoba. Social media has many photos and accounts of a tornado at Saltcoats east of Yorkton around 2 p.m. plus golf ball and baseball sized hail just north of Theodore.

Photo credit: Facebook hail June 12, 2024, north of Theodore, SK

There was hail in Yorkton and Langenburg as well. One eyewitness says part of a roof or wall hit an unoccupied farm northeast of Saltcoats with trees broken off in the yard laying around in different directions and pieces of a wall or roof from a shed was tossed up over the fence line and onto the nearby road.

Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang says the hot dry years we’ve experienced in recent times, may mean this June seems unusual in the amount of moisture Saskatchewan has experienced but in fact June is the province’s wettest month with, on average, 72 mm of rain. She says in terms of the severe weather it will be interesting to see how this season unfolds with the extra moisture in the ground. Lang says last year was a slow severe weather season with one tornado recorded in Saskatchewan which is the least amount on record.