By Stephanie Froese

Sask. storm chaser says tornado season is still winding up

Jul 5, 2012 | 7:08 AM

At least three confirmed tornadoes this week and as many as 15 spotted by storm chasers in Saskatchewan this year all points to the potential for more twisters, said Greg Johnson, a Saskatchewan based storm chaser.

On average, Saskatchewan sees up to a dozen confirmed tornados a year, said Johnson but this year, there have been more. “In all of 2011, Saskatchewan had three tornados. This year alone I’m guessing we're somewhere between 12 and 15, if not more.”

Johnson said estimating an exact count is difficult as confirming a twister is a challenge for both storm chasers and Environment Canada.

“It’s been a very active tornado year. Generally we don’t see this type of activity until we get into July,” said Johnson, adding that the recent tumultuous weather has him hoping for a forecast of blues skies and sun, although he suspects that won’t be the case.

“My crystal ball is maybe telling me that we night see another system come through mid next week,” said Johnson, who spotted two twister sightings near Lake Defienbaker.

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This week Environment Canada confirmed tornados touched down near Wynyard, Watrous and Davidson.

Johnson said the reason storm chaser don’t typically follow Saskatchewan’s systems as much as areas in the states is that this province has a much shorter season.

“We don’t get a lot of tornado weather in January here so that’s probably why we get left off the tornado alley map sometimes,” said Johnson.

Recent activity in Saskatchewan has attracted storm chasers from south of the boarder as well as east central Canada.

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